Editor’s Note (2026 Update): This piece was originally published in June 2019 ahead of surfing’s Olympic debut. At the time, the debate focused heavily on wave pools versus natural beach breaks. While the original text remains intact below as published, we’ve added a brief update at the bottom looking at how the Tokyo and Paris Games played out, and what’s next for LA 2028.
By Craig Jarvis
When the Olympic Games happpens, I spend hours upon hours of tv time, watching all the things that are exciting, and pondering some of the sports that seem a bit out of whack to the ethos of the games. It’s hard to justify curling – the sport of sliding stones on ice – as an Olympic event but it is there and it’s there to stay.
Similarly, it’s quite a challenge to comprehend how surfing in the Olympics is going to be enthralling. Set to take place at Tsurigasaki beach, a venue that is said to average thigh-to-chest high waves historically over the period set for the event. The wave is fairly weak, and often tiny, but the event does have a 16-day waiting period and only two days necessary to run it to completion.
A good day at Tsurigasaki
The original plan was for there to be a surf ranch in Tokyo for the games, and that plan was in motion already,according to WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, when the venue was chosen by the Olympics committee, and it was shelved. It does seem, however, that a Surf Ranch would be a much better option than an average beachbreak and a 16 day waiting period. It might take an extra day to run it off at Kelly’s Pool, but it would still only take 3 days maximum to the finals.
Much the same as skateboarding, surfing is in the Olympic Games for the first time and no one is sure how it is all going to work out and where it will go to for the next version. As the Olympics is going to be held in paris, the rumoured site of a current Surf Ranch build, it all starts making sense.
What doesn’t make as much sense is that the ‘sport’ of breakdancing looks like making a debut at the same Paris Olympics.
Update: What Actually Happened (and What’s Next)
Looking back from 2026, the wave pool debate ended up taking a backseat. Organizers kept sending heats into the ocean, giving us two completely different contests to launch surfing’s Olympic era.
Tokyo 2020 (run in 2021) had modest beach break conditions at Tsurigasaki, but a typhoon swell showed up just in time for Italo Ferreira and Carissa Moore to snag the first gold medals. Then came Paris 2024, where organizers made the wild call to skip mainland France entirely and host the event 9,000 miles away at Teahupo’o, Tahiti. The result was legendary—heavy, terrifying barrels that produced some of the most iconic imagery in Olympic history.
Now, the focus shifts to LA 2028 at Lower Trestles in San Clemente. It’s going to be a completely different game than Tahiti. Trestles isn’t about surviving a heavy slab; it’s a high-performance playground on water. Heats will come down to speed, big aerials, and sharp rail work right in the heart of California surf culture.
As for wave pools? They didn’t end up hosting the Games, but facilities like Kelly’s Surf Ranch found their spot as elite training hubs. National squads now use them for non-stop heat reps and coaching drills before jumping back into ocean events.
