How do you win Olympic surfing gold in Tokyo?
THE Tokyo 2020 Games will see surfing make its Olympic debut, one of five new sports added.
It joins skateboarding, karate, sport climbing and baseball and softball as new Olympic events and will be contested on the open ocean, rather than in an artificial wave pool.
Because the event is held on the ocean the condition of the waves, the wind strength and direction, and the tide will all be factors in determining the winner.
Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach is where the event will be held, located on Japan’s Pacific coastline and 40 miles outside of Tokyo.
How are the contestants scored?
Every wave the contestants surf will be judged and given a score from 0-10, but only their top two wave scores will be used to calculate a final number.
The judges will decide the contestants score based on:
- Commitment and difficulty
- Innovation and progression
- Variety
- Move combination
- Speed, power and flow
However the judges will also take into account the conditions of the wave as no two waves are the same.
What is the route to the gold medal?
To win gold the contestants must progress through their heat in each round before the gold medal match.
The heats will be 30 minutes long in which the surfers catch as many waves as they can.
- Round One
- Round Two
- Round Three
- Quarter-finals
- Bronze medal match
- Gold medal match
Round One will feature four surfers per heat and Round Two will feature five surfers per heat from which the top two scoring athletes will progress.
Then from Round Three onwards the competition becomes one-on-one matches with the winner progressing.
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When does the surfing take place?
The surfing event is subject to change depending on the weather which affects conditions and contestant safety.
The competition will take four days to complete, but has been given an eight day scheduled between July 25 and August 1 to be contested should the weather delay the event.
The Olympics themselves are set to get underway on July 23 and end on August 8, twelve months later than originally scheduled.