Surfing at the Summer Olympics
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Competitions in the sport of surfing, governed by the International Surfing Association (ISA), have been held at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games. First selected as one of the discretionary sports at the 2020 and 2024 games, surfing will be inducted as one of the mandatory sports at the 2028 games. Athletes compete in the discipline of shortboard surfing, which is the sole event in the sport at the Olympics. The United States have won the most gold medals (2), while Brazil have won the most medals overall (3).
Bid for inclusion
In September 2015, surfing was included in a shortlist along with baseball, softball, karate, skateboarding, and sport climbing to be considered for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[1] In June 2016, the executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that they would support the proposal to include all of the shortlisted sports in the 2020 Games.[2] Finally, on August 3, 2016, all five sports (counting baseball and softball together as one sport) were approved for inclusion in the 2020 Olympic program.[3]
One of the biggest obstacles to surfing being included in the Olympics for many years was a landlocked country hosting the games which would make surfing events difficult to stage, and another one was that drowning is one of the big risks in surfing, and the IOC was less likely to take high liabilities in the event of a death.[4][better source needed]
Events
Venues
Participating nations
The following nations have taken part in the Olympic surfing competition. The numbers in the table indicate the number of competitors sent to that year's Olympics.
| Nation | 2020 | 2024 | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
 Australia | 4 | 4 | 2 |
 Argentina | 1 | 2 | 2 |
 Austria | 1 | 2 | 2 |
 Brazil | 4 | 6 | 1 |
 Canada | 4 | 1 | 1 |
 China | 2 | 1 | 2 |
 Colombia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Chile | 1 | 7 | 2 |
 Costa Rica | 2 | 1 | 2 |
 Czech Republic | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Denmark | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Ecuador | 1 | 7 | 2 |
 El Salvador | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 France | 4 | 4 | 2 |
 Finland | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Germany | 1 | 2 | 2 |
 Great Britain | 2 | 3 | 2 |
 Indonesia | 1 | 1 | 1 |
 Iran | – | 1 | 1 |
 Italy | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Israel | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Japan | 4 | 4 | 2 |
 Kazakhstan | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Morocco | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Mexico | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 1 |
 Netherlands | 2 | 2 | 2 |
 Nicaragua | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Poland | 1 | 2 | 2 |
 Portugal | 3 | 2 | 2 |
 Peru | 4 | 3 | 2 |
 Philippines | 1 | 7 | 2 |
 Puerto Rico | 2 | 1 | 2 |
 ROC | 3 | – | 1 |
 Slovenia | 2 | 1 | 2 |
 South Africa | 1 | 3 | 2 |
 South Korea | 2 | 3 | 2 |
 Spain | 4 | 3 | 2 |
 Sweden | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Switzerland | 1 | 1 | 2 |
 Thailand | 5 | 1 | 2 |
 Ukraine | – | 2 | 1 |
 United States | 4 | 5 | 2 |
| Nations | 19 | 22 | 24 |
| Climbers | 40 | 68 | |
| Year | 2020 | 2024 | 2 |
Medalists
Men's shortboard
| Games | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Tokyo |
Ítalo Ferreira Brazil |
Kanoa Igarashi Japan |
Owen Wright Australia |
| 2024 Paris |
Kauli Vaast France |
Jack Robinson Australia |
Gabriel Medina Brazil |
Women's shortboard
| Medals | |||||
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Brazil |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| South Africa |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 4 | France |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Japan |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 5 nations | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
Medal table
Sources:[5]
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | Brazil | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 3 | France | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Australia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Japan | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals (6 entries) | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | |