Team USA surfers, who have won two Olympic gold medals, will be led by USA Surfing moving forward. Photo: ISA//Pablo Franco
USA Surfing has regained its certification status as the governing authority in charge of Olympic surfers, the federation announced. The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) lauded improvements to USA Surfing’s organizational structure, ending a year-long struggle.
In March of last year, The Inertia revealed that the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Federation entered the race for surfing’s unoccupied Olympic certification. USA Surfing had lost its standing with USOPC after the Tokyo 2020 Games due to audits that showed financial and governance issues. Willingly relinquishing its Olympic status, USA Surfing went through restructuring and a change in leadership while USOPC itself managed the Olympic surf team at Paris 2024.
When USOPC opened up the application process for federations to vie for management of surfing’s Olympic future, U.S. Ski and Snowboard — headed by former WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt — entered the running, setting off a series of twists and turns. Both sides compiled evidence to support their cases, executives landed jabs in the press, politicians were pulled into the melee, and surf legends formed a coalition to state the case for USA Surfing.
Ultimately, U.S. Ski and Snowboard withdrew its application in November of last year, accusing USA Surfing of being uncooperative and levying “uninformed legal threats” in the process. Later, it was revealed that the snow federation had shifted its focus to controlling Olympic skateboarding, which found itself in a similar position after Tokyo 2020, lacking a certified national governing body.
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Once U.S. Ski and Snowboard was no longer in the running, five months passed before USOPC selected USA Surfing as the federation to steward the sport. When reached for comment, USA Surfing CEO Becky Fleischauer said she didn’t know why the decision was delayed, and only learned Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. that the application had been accepted.
In the press release, Fleischauer celebrated the move ahead of the LA 2028 Olympic Games coming to San Clemente, where the organization is headquartered. The certification will open the door to increased investment in the sport, she said.
USOPC, which had been careful not to comment on the federations in the race up until now, indicated that USA Surfing had made sufficient improvements to its organization to warrant regaining its Olympic surfing responsibilities.
USA Surfing says it has doubled revenue, tripled staff capacity, held workshops and wave-pool training sessions for athletes, built a live broadcast platform, and formed partnerships in healthcare and education to benefit athletes.
“We are pleased that the progress made under USA Surfing’s new leadership and approach has led to recertification as a national governing body,” USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said. “The obligation of (a national governing body) is significant, and we thank USA Surfing’s leadership for their engagement throughout the process, and for the work still ahead.”
Now that USA Surfing has certification status, it can begin to form the Olympic pathway for the LA 2028 Games. As the national governing body, the organization will select the teams that compete in the World Surfing Games and Pan American Games, which will directly qualify athletes for the Olympics.
