Do these photos make you think surfing should be in a wave pool? Photos: ISA
So many thoughts passed through my mind in the 11 days I spent covering the Olympics in Tahiti – thoughts like, “Gabriel Medina and pumping Teahupo’o are a match made in heaven,” “Tahiti is not cheap,” “Judges taking photos with athletes is a big no-no,” and “Being vegan in this country is impossible.” But there was one thought I can confidently say never entered my mind: “The venue at Teahupo’o should have been replaced by a wave pool.”
Just typing that previous sentence makes me cringe. I’ve since come to learn that two prominent Brazilian, multi-world title holders, Filipe Toledo and Gabriel Medina, didn’t have the same experience as I did in Tahiti.
In a head-scratching, still undeleted Instagram comment, Filipe Toledo explained that he thought a wave pool would be the most “fair” way to hold Olympic surfing. “If the ocean stayed like it was in round three, Gabriel was going to win the gold and we know this,” Toledo said in the comment. “The pool provides those conditions from beginning to end. When all is said and done, the surfer who wins is really the best surfer.”
This was not entirely shocking from Toledo who has been bullied online for years about his lackluster performances in heavy waves. But when Medina stepped in to back Toledo up, my ears perked.
“In my semifinal in Tahiti we saw that sometimes nature (doesn’t provide equal opportunity for everyone),” Medina told UOL. “I think (a wave pool) would make the sport more fair.”
Perhaps it’s a tad pretentious of me to think my opinion means anything compared to those of Medina and Toledo. However, I can’t comprehend how these two were present in Tahiti, watching the mind-blowing surfing on display, getting spit out of Teahupo’o caverns themselves, and are now longing for a wave pool.
If we want to get technical, maybe a wave pool would be more “fair.” But would it be better for surfing? More exciting? Attract more viewers? No, no, and probably not.
Surfing is by nature simultaneously both fair and unfair. Yes, the sets in the finals were significantly less consistent compared to the first three days of the event. But every heat starts without priority. Kauli Vaast managed to find two excellent waves in the final, which I can assure you was not pure luck. You haven’t heard him begging for a wave pool.
Of all the Olympic sports, surfing’s variable field of play is undoubtedly the most consequential to the outcome. But that’s surfing. That’s how world champions have always been crowned. That’s how surfing got into the Olympics. That’s how surfers qualified for the Olympics. Why should it change now? Just because, as Toledo states, the Olympics are a “unique moment” that only happens every four years? He’s missing the point. That’s exactly why we should showcase the sport at places like Teahupo’o, one of the best waves in the world.
The inconsistent wave argument could selectively be used all the time. I haven’t heard these two asking for Championship Tour events to be transferred to pools when they’ve won in inconsistent conditions. I would applaud Toledo and Medina if they’d been consistent with this messaging when Teahupo’o was selected as the venue in 2019. But everyone knows that would have sounded absurd.
I didn’t hear a peep about wave pools from Toledo when he was flying high and claiming waves after his near-perfect ride in round two of the Olympics. The same goes for Medina when, thanks to a Teahupo’o barrel and fly-away claim, he became one of the most recognized athletes of the entire Games. I hate to say it, but they come off as poor losers by deciding after their Olympic losses that Surf Ranch would have been more “fair” than Teahupo’o.
Maybe someday there will be a wave pool of epic proportions that rivals the excitement and power of the ocean. But that pool doesn’t exist right now. I have nothing against wave pools, I’ve surfed in them twice and they’re unquestionably fun. But I’ve watched quite a few Surf Ranch events over the years. Not once have I felt chills through my spine from Toledo’s wave pool air combos like I did during the Olympics when Medina got that 9.9 tube, or when Carissa Moore poured her heart out about how much her backhand tube riding has improved, or when Kauli and Caroline Marks hoisted gold medals.
And I won’t delve too deep into the fact that the Olympics don’t want the wave pool anyway. The argument is moot at this point. The ISA gave the IOC the wave pool option when it proposed inclusion in Tokyo 2020. The IOC’s response: Thanks, but no thanks. Wave pool technology is rapidly improving, But pools are still expensive, might not be that profitable, which sometimes means they have trouble staying open, and are generally seen as unnecessary constructions when the Games is trying to become more eco-friendly.
LA 2028 has consistently used surfing in its various marketing campaigns and the organizing committee, of course, just used Los Angeles beaches to host a Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre concert for the Paris closing ceremony. Don’t think for one second that LA 2028 will let surfing slip from its grasp and escape to the central California farmlands of Lemoore and the Surf Ranch.
Call me crazy, but I strongly disagree with Toledo and Medina on this one. Olympic surfing will be held in saltwater waves until there’s an overwhelmingly good reason it shouldn’t. And that’s how it should be.
