Surfing Is the Most Dangerous Olympic Sport; Day Three Proved It
Photo: Ryan "Chachi" Craig
This wasn’t supposed to happen. For days, word on the street and the sages of swell forecasting, were saying that Monday, the third day of the Olympic surfing window at Teahupo’o, Tahiti, was going to be a lay day. Terrible winds, stormy, victory at sea. But this is the ocean; speculation be damned; anything can happen. And on Monday, Teahupo’o was huge, proving without a doubt, that surfing is the most dangerous Olympic sport.
After his Round Three loss to Peruvian Alonso Correa, South Africa’s Jordy Smith confirmed it: “Today is probably going to be one of the most exciting days for the Olympics in history.”
Back in ancient Greece and the early days of the Olympics, they had a sport called Pankration. The closest equivalent of it, today, would be the UFC. It was a mixture of boxing and wrestling, in which the goal was to completely incapacitate (knockout or kill) your opponent. The only rules? No biting or gouging. “And the Greeks thought this was the coolest thing ever,” said Paul Christesen, Professor of Ancient Greek History at Dartmouth College. So, yeah, dangerous.
But Pankration has long been axed as an Olympic sport. Now, we have surfing; and while the competitors aren’t trying to kill each other, they are battling an indomitable force: the ocean.
Day Three of the Paris 2024 Olympics showed just how treacherous the sport can be compared to others in the Games like, say, swimming or track and field or…badminton. Teahupo’o absolutely flexed – well overhead, throaty, perilous – at the beginning of competition. But by midday, after the men’s Round Three wrapped, mother nature had her way. The wind and rain kicked up into a tropical monsoon, and the event was called off for the rest of the day.
Related: Surfers Guillotined in Paris (2024 Olympics)
“Danger Zone”
Photo: Ryan "Chachi" Craig
Kenny Loggins may not have been speaking about surfing in his 1986 hair metal adjacent hit, “Danger Zone,” but after today’s events at Teahupo’o, Tahiti, he may as well have been.
Speaking about the hazard factor, I asked a handful of the competitors what they thought:
“A day like today, I had one wipeout that was really eye-opening. Both Gabriel [Medina] and I both had bad wipeouts. It was pretty serious out there. When you have the jersey on, you sort of feel like you have super powers. But you're still human, and you're battling mother nature.” – Kanoa Igarashi
“I think it’s the most dangerous Olympic sport, for sure. It’s so dangerous out there. It’s super shallow. Luckily, I didn’t hit the reef on the one where I fell. When the waves are like this, when it’s super hollow, it’s super shallow. There’s some really solid waves out there. But we love it.” – Gabriel Medina
Photo: Ryan "Chachi" Craig
“It’s definitely dangerous. Today was a scary day out there. There’s so much west in the swell, and when it’s like that, there’s so much power and energy in it. I’d imagine it’s one of the scariest sports in the whole Olympics…especially in these conditions.” – John John Florence
“People don’t realize just how dangerous it is. It’s probably one of the most dangerous places in the world [Teahupo'o, Tahiti]. Honestly, I’m happy to make it out alive. I got dragged over the bottom, then almost had a two-wave hold-down. I had barely a second between waves. Just enough time for a quick breath before going back down. I was reminded of so many guys who’ve had bad wipeouts.” – Jack Robinson
Related: Olympic Surfing 101: Everything to Know Before Paris 2024
(No) “Party in the U.S.A.”
Photo: Ryan "Chachi" Craig
Sorry, Miley Cyrus; the USA boys won’t be partying after today’s results.
On Day One of competition, Team USA looked pretty much unstoppable. But today, both men – John John Florence and Griffin Colapinto – were knocked out. Now, it’ll be up to the women, all three of which are still in the event – Caroline Marks, Carissa Moore, and Caity Simmers – to step up once competition resumes, and bring home some medals for the red, white, and blue.
John had an unusual matchup against Jack Robbo. The seeding for the Olympics are quite strange, in that many of the higher seeds meet early on, which typically isn’t the protocol. After the heat, John spoke about that strange seeding situation and the unfortunate loss:
Photo: Ryan "Chachi" Craig
“The seeding has been pretty bizarre. I feel like it’s pretty one-sided. The second half of the draw is very heavy. I’m not sure how or why that happened. It sucks to come up against Jack [Robinson] this early on. One of us is going to win, one is going to lose. It was hard to lose early.”
As for Griff, he had the unenviable task of facing local hero, Kauli Vaast. It’s tough when the whole channel, and most of the beach, are cheering against you. Oh, also, it was Griff’s birthday.
“Losing sucks, but it’s just part of life,” he said. “I’ve lost so many times in my life. That’s how it goes. I’ll be alright. It’s definitely difficult when you have the whole channel rooting for the other guy. All the ski and boat drivers, they all live here. They all want Kauli to win.”
Related: Gallery: The Many Moods of Teahupo’o
“Tomorrow Never Knows”
Photo: Ryan "Chachi" Craig
John Lennon’s LSD-inspired track from The Beatles’ 1966 Revolver has no connection to Olympic surfing, except perhaps that there’s a bit of an unknown as to what’s to come.
“The surf is going to be large on Tuesday and Wednesday but onshore winds mean disorganized and potentially out of control conditions,” Surfline reported. “We continue to watch the potential for a stronger swell at the end of the window (the 5th) but the timing of that is bouncing around with each model run, so I don’t have a ton of confidence in that being an option. A bird in hand is better than two in the bush…”
Until then, with the opportunity for a much-needed break in the action, I’m gonna take a cue from Lennon: “Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.” (Minus the acid.)
