The second-to-last Olympic qualification domino fell this week when the Japanese chose to add Connor O’Leary to their squad. Team Japan had earned an “extra” slot for a male by winning the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games and, up until that announcement on March 12, the country hadn’t divulged what process it would use to select the surfer. So now that Japan has sorted out its team, 46 of the 48 Olympians have been confirmed. There is still one lingering question to fill out the Olympic roster: Who will get the “universality” slots?
Surfing has been given two universality slots for the qualification process. There is one for a man and one for a woman. The goal of a universality slot is to create opportunity for athletes from countries that are traditionally underrepresented in the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) reserved 102 such slots across 21 sports for Paris 2024. Two of those 102 will be surfers.
Here’s how it works. The IOC produces a list (scroll to the bottom of the pdf) of countries that are eligible for the slots. Eligible surfers must have met the following criteria to apply:
- Finished top 50 in the 2023 or 2024 World Surfing Games;
- Come from countries on the IOC list;
- Come from countries that did not have an average of more than eight Olympians in individual sports/disciplines between the last two editions of the Games.
ISA President Fernando Aguerre put out a teaser while speaking on the webcast during the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games that they received five applications, two of which were deemed acceptable.
Who could it be? Let’s look at who fits the eligibility criteria.
At the 2023 World Surfing Games, four surfers met the criteria. All three of El Salvador’s male surfers, Bryan Perez, Daniel Monterrosa, and Porfirio Miranda, finished top 50. Nicaragua’s Candelaria Resano finished among the women’s top 50. Both El Salvador and Nicaragua are on the list of eligible countries.
At the 2024 World Surfing Games, Resano, once again, finished top 50. American Samoa’s Lucy Jarrad also finished top 50, which is another country on the list.
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El Salvador, Nicaragua, and American Samoa all had an average of less than eight athletes between Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, so they passed that criteria.
So, in theory the five applications came from these five surfers. Looking for hints, both Bryan Perez and Candelaria Resano participated in the ISA’s Teahupo’o training program last year. Both showed that they can hold their own at Teahupo’o (at least in the swell that was on offer), so I would wager that Perez and Resano are the final two mystery Olympians.
That said, it is at the ISA’s discretion to recommend the surfers to the IOC. It’s feasible that they did not select Perez and/or Resano. Expect a universality slot announcement released any day now to round out the Olympic surfers for Paris 2024.
