Meet surfing’s first-ever pictogram. Photo: Tokyo 2020
Surfing’s inclusion in the 2020 Olympics made headlines in August 2016 and slowly things have started to take shape. There’s officially a qualification scheme in place. There are assurances that the event will happen in the ocean at Tsurigasaki Beach. And reportedly, contingency plans if the surf doesn’t cooperate.
Surfing’s imminent Olympic debut becomes more and more real by the day, and the latest is no exception. On Tuesday, Tokyo 2020 unveiled 50 pictograms for the 33 sports (some sports get multiple) set to take place during the Summer Games. And, for the first time surfing has its own Olympic pictogram (as do skateboarding and climbing).
For surf, it’s notable that of the many aspects of the sport, Japanese designer Masaaki Hiromura, who designed all of the icons, chose to hone in on aerial surfing. Not to raise conspiracy theories here, but had Kelly Slater Wave Company and the WSL built a wave pool in time, the iconic image would really be a surfer in the barrel, no?
In other words, when non-surfers look at Olympic materials online or at “signage at competition venues, decoration around the Japanese capital, and on licensed products, posters and tickets, as well as… guidebooks,” the expectation inherently drawn from the imagery, whether consciously or subconsciously, is aerial surfing will be on display. Not a turn, not a floater, but an air.
Still, surfing’s very first pictogram totally blows the one below, which lives on the “Summer at the 2020 Summer Olympics” Wikipedia entry, out of the water meaning Tokyo 2020 narrowly avoided a Cardiff Kook-type scenario.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Below, too, are the images that will represent climbing and skateboarding in the Olympics. Not bad, actually!
Source: Tokyo 2020
Source: Tokyo 2020
