From using broken boards to chasing Paris 2024: Meet Senegal’s top surfer Cherif Fall

The towering Cherif Fall is a giant in the ocean.

Standing at nearly two metres in height, the Senegalese surfer is fervently riding waves as he seeks his big break – becoming the first sub-Saharan African to qualify for the Olympics. His mission is to get a spot for Paris 2024.

A dream that was nurtured by broken surfboards left behind by tourists on the wave-rich ocean banks near his home in Dakar.

Fall took up the sport at age 11 against his parents' wishes and has risen to become a nine-time national surfing champion.

The 25-year-old, who looks up to his friend and hero Italo Ferrera, leads a crop of talented surfers from the West African nation who are inspiring youngsters and driving the sport’s popularity.

“I learnt how to surf using broken surf boards that surfers, mainly tourists who came surfing, would leave on the beach. That’s how I learned to surf,” Fall said in an interview with Olympics.com from California where had a training stint.

Cherif will represent Senegal at the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games in Huntington Beach, California, between 16 - 24 September.

2022 ISA World Surfing Games: Preview, schedule, key athletes and how to watch

Cherif Fall: The making of a Senegalese pro surfer

Growing up near one of Dakar’s several fishing villages along the Senegalese coastline, Fall would spend most of his days on the ocean banks.

Whenever he went swimming with his friends, he noticed planks of broken surf boards left behind by tourists. He decided to play around with them chasing waves, and he got hooked.

“My family lived close to the beach in Dakar, and after school, I always went to the beach to swim. And sometimes my mum would take me with her when she was going to clean the fish at the beach.”

His decision to pursue this sport looked unusual in a country where young boys are mainly engaged in football, wrestling or basketball. Cherif's parents were also reluctant to allow their son take up surfing.

“I began surfing with the broken boards with my brother, but he stopped. However I kept on, though it was difficult concentrating in school once I picked surfing. Training affected my studies and I didn’t get good results in school. I remember saying I wanted to be a pro-surfer and be one of the best in Dakar…it made my dad a little bit mad,” he recalled.

“But I kept on as my goal was to learn surfing. My dad even bought me my first board… I was so excited when he did this. Then I went on to win my first contest in 2013. Since then, I have been the national champion.”

The wave-rich setting helped hone Fall’s surfing skills and now he proudly leads the new generation of Senegalese surfers, enjoying the momentum of the swells as the vibrant city looks to host the Youth Olympics Games in 2026.

Senegal is blessed with a variety of surf hotspots with powerful waves along the sweeping 724km coastline on the North Atlantic Ocean: Yoff, Les Almadies and N’gor Island in Dakar are some of the popular surf breaks.

Cherif Fall: Constantly battling to to survive rough waves off the ocean

The 25-year-old has since stepped up a gear managing to compete around the world, proving the naysayers wrong. He no longer struggles with equipment, and he even boasts a new sponsor, Billabong, a brand that supports several leading pro-surfers.

Fall made his international debut at the Airwalk pro junior in France in 2015 and has since represented his west African nation in several competitions in Europe and the U.S., and most importantly he made sure the green-red-yellow-flag flew at the ISA World Games.

But it is not always easy working your way up as a surfer from sub-Saharan Africa.

“A surfer in Senegal cannot always count on government support. They mainly support us when we go to represent the country at major events like the World Championships or the World Surfing Games. But they don’t support us to other events which are necessary for our build-up.

“I think this is one reason why it’s hard to find African surfers competing in many events. We need not only government support, but we also need visas to travel to most of the events in Europe or USA, and sometimes they only inform us at the last minute that they are not going to grant us visas.”

Fall constantly finds himself fighting tirelessly for resources and opportunities, concerns that easily discourage other talented upcoming surfers in Africa.

“People now know Surf Senegal because of me and a few others, as we compete in contests in Europe, Japan, France…but we are not many. There’s like two black surfers, there is me and Michael February from South Africa.”

Despite the difficulties, Dakar remains the centre of Senegalese surf culture.

The sport is growing across age groups and the small achievements of experienced surfers like Fall have been a huge boost.

“Most people in Senegal know me,” he admits, elaborating on his motivation to not only become the best surfers out of his nation. His ultimate goal - he says - is to have youngsters fall in love with the sport.

“Now so many kids come to do surfing because they see me doing surfing. As a Muslim country we don’t drink (alcohol) and so surfing is a good past time. The kids watch me, and they see my building my profile from surfing. They see me traveling, competing with the best surfers in the world.

“It is the dream for all these kids who see me surfing… and that's why I am always positive and wanting to go up and learn more. When I see kids (surfing) it’s enough to keep me motivated because they appreciate what I'm doing.”

Olympic champ Italo Ferreira's visit to Dakar inspiring a new generation of surfers

The Senegalese surfing scene got additional visibilty with when Ferreira, the newly crowned gold medallist from surfing’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, visited the capital last season (2021) and sampled the_Teranga_ waves.

“It was unbelievable when Italo with the help of Billabong came to Senegal. It was good for me, my country, and all the kids learning surfing and all those teaching surfing here. Now in Senegal when the kids look for the top surfers to follow they watch Italo.”

The Brazilian’s visit also fueled Fall’s ambitions.

He begins the chase at the ISA World Surfing Games in California, the first stop in Olympic qualification for the Paris Games.

“My dream is to qualify for the Olympics and the World Tour before the end of my career. These are the two things I want most and I am working hard to make it happen,” the 25-year-old said as he explained his desire to face Olympic-class challenge at Paris 2024 in Teahupo’o.

“The Olympics has been my goal for a long time. The last time I went to El Salvador, and I was chasing qualification and I didn’t qualify, I felt so sad. I was the surf champion in Senegal and couldn't qualify, I cried. Now I am trying to push more and work hard.

“We have so many good surfers in Senegal and it’s possible for us to qualify (more than one) for the Olympics. The only thing we need is to go and surf more outside of Senegal, where there are more pro-suffers and we compete with them and learn from them. We need to ride other waves (outside of Senegal), ride other stronger waves, and also see how other surfers ride those waves.”

The towering athlete is blazing the trail in the local surfing scene and having an impact on the youngsters.

Fall is also brimming with talent to back up his passion: he is a powerful ripper with an outstanding big air reverse.

“I'm different from all the surfers in the world. All the time I do big air reverse. I’m tall and most of the surfers in the world aren’t so tall. It’s different when a surfer is tall. It’s like a surfer is as big as the waves.”

But it’s not just about chasing the swells but the power he gets from the ocean.

“I have so much love for surfing. Surfing gives me motivation even for life…nothing is easy in life. When you achieve your surfing goals, (it feels like) everything is going to be easy."