The day before the Olympics began, I was sitting at a dive bar’s chipped counter, listening to a drunken non-surfer brag about how excited he was about the surfing competition at Teahupo’o. With wide eyes and a slurred speech, he shouted passionately about the beauty and fear of the wave. Despite not being a surfer, he took great effort to clarify that the world’s greatest surfers will be riding the world’s most dangerous wave, thus it would be exciting to watch. He even touched my shoulder to emphasise his point. Perhaps even the game’s high point.
SURFER TV: I was too scared to warn him about the annoying whims of surfing competitions. The unbearable silences, the aggravating changes in the wind and tide, and the fundamental lack of fair play. I could not have progressed much either, as he quickly shifted his attention to another customer to see whether they were interested in surfing in the Olympics.
Apart from the inebriation, this was, for the most part, a fairly normal conversation I was having with non-surfers who were excited to watch the surf championship. They had been enthralled with the stunning Chopes maw on television, picturing surfers such as Kelly Slater—who is always assumed to be competing—hurling themselves into lethal glass caverns or maybe even leaping into the air to execute a spin that would be recognisable to people who are familiar with gymnastics and the high dive.
However, those chats pretty much ended once the surfing itself began, and you can probably guess what happened next. Anecdotally at least, the interest evaporated from the conversation. The plots are unimportant, the waves are unexpected, the lulls are too long, and the judgement is unclear.
Rendering of the Olympic Surfing Wave Pool by Greg Webber
Should a Wave Pool Be Used for Olympic Surfing? So Do 82% of People.
By the way, that is not Peacock’s fault. Everything appeared fantastic. It was a production masterclass. However, the sea continued to do its thing, and surf contests failed to attract non-surfers for decades.
This is the reason surfing in a wave pool is required for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. For all future games, indeed.
Jack Robinson is not in agreement. He referred to wave pools as repetitious during a recent interview with the Sydney Morning Herald. dull. Not very enjoyable to see. If every wave consists of three safety turns and a head dip, then he is correct. However, gymnasts are one example. In their regimens, they all perform essentially the same tasks. What distinguishes them is how well they execute them. repeatable, fair, and accessible to a wide audience. One that is insensitive to wind fluctuations, lulls, or John John Florence’s masterful wave placement. They are looking for flare, acrobatics, and the drama of every surfer knowing exactly what to do to win on a wave.
It’s not at all like surfing, but then, the snowboard halfpipe isn’t either.
By the way, I’m not even a big fan of wave pools, so I say this. I’ve expressed my opinion in several op-eds that wave pools are an insult to the inherent beauty of surfing.
Lower-Level Trestles
In LA 2028, where should surfing be held during the Olympics?
In many ways, though, so is competition. And surfing might as well be forced into the kind of competitive conformity that can only be created by a wave pool if we’re forcing it to be a sport on par with gymnastics, track and field, volleyball, etc. The waves are the same for everyone. Their total number of scoring opportunities is equal. Perhaps more significantly, though, is that even non-surfers can enjoy the intricate and repeated airs made possible by the wave pool’s homogeneity. And to be honest, the Olympics are trying to attract that kind of viewership.
Furthermore, expecting every summer games to be held somewhere with access to world-class waves is just not realistic. Tahiti was a 10,000-mile stretch chosen to host surfing during the Paris Games. What happens if Denver or another city wins the games? Or Munich? When there are waves at that time of year, shouldn’t we just stage surfing wherever in the world without any connection to the host city? Seems to contradict the host countries’ original intent in its entirety.
It appears that Lowers is the wise choice for the LA 2028 Games. However, that wave pool in Palm Springs looks like a lot of fun. Might as well accept it.
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