Surfing was welcomed to the shortlist of potential new Olympic sports for the 2020 Tokyo Games this week, but one pro says he’s not behind that endeavor. In fact, not only does 2015 Fiji Pro winner Owen Wright say surfing isn’t a good fit for Olympic competition, he thinks a majority of pro surfers are in his corner.
“I think surfing in itself is more of an art form and an expression so I think the Olympic banner doesn’t really suit the sport of surfing,” he told Reuters. “If you had one event and named the Olympic champion? I think in the world surf league we have a bunch of different canvasses, they’re all totally different waves, and by the end of it you get the winner. I think it has to be like that, to have a bunch of different inclusions to get the one champion.”
Meanwhile, the International Surfing Association remains surfing’s highest organization recognized by the International Olympic Committee. While they present surfing to the IOC as a viable Olympic competition, they maintain that the rapid growth of surf parks will guarantee quality waves for the 2020 games.
Wright still isn’t convinced.”There’s a lot of people that want to see it go that way but I think if you ask the surfer, I think you’ll get a similar answer,” he added.
