The ISA’s Olympic qualification process is quite convoluted.
But it kind of has to be: After all, there are only 48 total slots between two genders across an entire world of surfers, and they can’t all come from the WSL. Every surfing nation gets 4 slots, and not all of one of them has a surfer represented on the CT (yet.)
To read the detailed breakdown of how it all works, click here. The Cliff’s Notes version is that between the 2023 CT rankings and multiple ISA qualifiers over a two year time period, 46 of the 48 surfers had been decided by last month. However, the ISA/Olympics left two TBD “universality slots” open.
What is a universality slot, exactly?
Basically, they’re slots for surfers from countries that are traditionally underrepresented in the Olympics. For the 2024 Games, the International Olympic Committee reserved 102 universality slots across all sports. Since this is only surfing’s second time in the Olympics, it was up to the ISA to decide who those last two coveted spots should go to.
After a lengthy application and interview process, just today, Fernando Aguerre from the ISA announced that Nicaragua’s Candelaria Resano and El Salvador’s Bryan Perez will get those slots.
It’s no huge surprise, considering both participated in the ISA’s Teahupo’o training program last year, and are objectively two of the best and most deserving surfers from their respective (and certainly underrepresented) countries.
So, how will they fare at Teahupo’o? We’ll see. But one thing’s for certain: It’ll be entertaining watching a melting pot of surfers from all over the world compete for Olympic Gold at one of the most dangerous waves on earth.