Cherif unfortunately missed out on his chance at Teahupo’o due to no fault of his own. Photo: Facebook
The Senegalese have, for years, been the poster child of the cascading effects of surfing’s Olympic inclusion. Since surfing was approved as a sport in the Games, the Senegalese national team was able to access government funds to travel and compete among the world’s best at the ISA World Surfing Games. Their colorful outfits, painted bodies, and booming drums became a staple of the event’s international melting pot.
However, at this year’s edition of the World Surfing Games, the final Olympic qualifier in Puerto Rico, the unmistakable vibrance of Senegal’s surfers was noticeably absent. The government funds that have supported their participation in the event since 2017 have vanished. There were no Senegalese surfers competing in the event.
Cherif Fall, a 27-year-old surfer from Senegal’s capital, Dakar, has for years been leading the charge for Senegalese surfing. He placed a more-than-respectable 16th at the 2022 World Surfing Games and was even invited to the 2023 Vans Pipe Masters. After training in Hawaii and California – where he now calls home for much of the year – he returned to Senegal to get in some surfing ahead of the final Paris 2024 qualifier. However, about a week before the event was set to kick off, he realized something was amiss. Senegal’s national surfing federation was denied funding by the Ministry of Sport. It was too late to search for alternative sources of funding. His and his compatriots’ dreams of earning an Olympic slot were crushed.
“I am not happy about it,” Fall told The Inertia about missing the World Surfing Games. “I’ve been trying hard and it’s my dream to do these contests. I know that if I went and competed, I would go far. I don’t understand why things turned out this way.”
Cherif, and his fellow Senegalese surfers, deserve a shot. Photo: Facebook
The Senegalese Surfing Federation didn’t immediately respond to comment, but according to the AP, it would have cost USD $30,000 to send six surfers and three coaches to Puerto Rico to compete. In the same AP story, the federation’s president, Alexandre Alcantara, said that government focus on other sports and a tense political climate led to the lack of funding, also noting that he doesn’t think the Senegalese surfers would have had a chance to qualify for Paris 2024 anyway.
Fall lamented the poor communication from the federation to the athletes. He also took the moment to reflect on how the lack of funding hinders Senegal’s surfers from taking their skills to the next level.
“I don’t have a coach (when I compete),” said Fall. “I use my own strategy. And there are many kids here that surf very well and could use the support and help of a coach brought from somewhere abroad like California.”
When asked if he knew how they could change the situation for next year, he said that nobody knows given the uncertainty of the impending presidential elections. Senegal is currently undergoing political turmoil as the sitting president unilaterally decided to postpone February’s presidential elections 10 months, a move the country’s Supreme Constitutional Court deemed illegal.
The political uncertainty seems to have trickled down into the government’s support for surfing.
The lack of funding for surfing comes at an inopportune time. Dakar is slated to host the next edition of the Youth Olympic Games in 2026 where surfing will be included on the sport program for the first time.
For the past several years, the emergence of Senegalese surfers like Fall has been a bright spot for the growth of the sport in Africa. With the continent’s top talent long being consolidated in South Africa, and to a lesser extent, Morocco, Senegal seems primed to be the next African surfing nation to make an impact on a global level. But Fall isn’t going to let this year’s funding debacle get in the way of his ambitions. He’s heading back to California to continue his training and then he’s off to Texas to compete in the Landlock festival at Waco Surf.
But personal pursuits aside, Fall’s biggest concern is for his surfing community in Senegal.
“We have the soul in the water here,” concluded Fall. “I want everybody in my country to have the opportunity to be able to go forward in surfing.”
