Surfing at the 2024 Summer Olympics facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Surfing at the Games of the Olympiad
Venue	Teahupoʻo reef pass, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Dates	27 July – 5 August 2024
No. of events	2 (1 men, 1 women)
Competitors	48 from 21 nations
← 2020 2028 →

Surfing was an exciting sport at the 2024 Summer Olympics! It happened from July 27 to August 5, 2024. The competition took place in a special spot called Teahupoʻo reef pass in Tahiti. Tahiti is part of French Polynesia.

This location was super far from Paris, France, where most of the Olympics were held. It set a new record for the farthest Olympic event ever! A total of 48 surfers competed. There were 24 men and 24 women. They all competed in the shortboard events. This was eight more surfers than at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Where the Surfing Happened

The surfing competition was held in Teahupo'o, Tahiti. This island is in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is part of French Polynesia. Organizers chose Tahiti because of its amazing, huge waves. These waves are perfect for surfing competitions.

Tahiti is about 15,000 kilometers (9,300 miles) from Paris. This distance made it the farthest Olympic medal event from the main host city. The old record was from the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Back then, horse riding events had to be in Stockholm, Sweden. This was because Australia had strict rules for animals coming from other countries.

A Floating Home for Surfers

The surfers in Tahiti did not stay in the main Olympic Village. That village was on L'Île-Saint-Denis near Paris. Instead, the surfers stayed on a ship! The ship was called M/V Aranui 5. It was anchored off the coast of Tahiti. This was the first time a "floating Olympic village" was used.

Another unique thing was that the surfing competition had no spectators. This means no one watched from the shore.

How Surfers Qualified

The way surfers qualified for Paris 2024 was similar to Tokyo 2020. The goal was to get the best professional surfers from around the world. It also aimed to give many countries a chance to compete.

Usually, each country could send two male and two female surfers. But there were two special exceptions. If a country won the team championships at the ISA World Surfing Games in 2022 or 2024, they could send three surfers. This allowed some teams to have an extra surfer.

Competition Schedule

The weather in Tahiti can be very powerful! On July 29, the waves became too dangerous. This happened near the end of the men's third round. Because of this, the women's third round had to be delayed. The waves stayed too rough for the next two days. This meant the last women's round and all the final competitions were put off.

Surfing started again on August 1. But the competition was stopped again on August 3 and 4. The semifinals and finals were then planned for August 5.

Countries That Competed

A total of 48 surfers from 21 different countries qualified. It was the first time that Canada and Mexico had surfers in the Olympics!

Medal Winners

Medal Table

  *   Host nation (France)

Rank	NOC	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	France*	1	0	1	2
2	United States	1	0	0	1
3	Brazil	0	1	1	2
4	Australia	0	1	0	1
Totals (4 entries)		2	2	2	6

Medalists

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men's shortboard details	Kauli Vaast  France	Jack Robinson  Australia	Gabriel Medina  Brazil
Women's shortboard details	Caroline Marks  United States	Tatiana Weston-Webb  Brazil	Johanne Defay  France

See also

In Spanish: Surf en los Juegos Olímpicos de París 2024 para niños

• Surfing at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Surfing at the 2023 Pan American Games