Filipe Toledo exclusive: ‘The Olympics are the highest you can go in our sport’
The back-to-back reigning world champion spoke exclusively with Olympics.com about the upcoming Games, the infamous wave Teahupo’o dubbed ‘the end of the road’ and what his dream surf trip looks like.
Filipe Toledo almost has it all.
Back-to-back world titles, 17 Championship Tour event wins, a family with two kids and some of the gnarliest airs to date.
What’s missing from that list? Olympic gold.
After shocking the surfing world by withdrawing from the 2024 WSL Championship Tour to focus on his mental health, the Brazilian powerhouse is back in competition mode at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico and is looking ahead to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“[The Olympics] are the highest you can go in our sport, where we can show our talent to the whole world,” the decorated surfer told the Olympics.com Portuguese podcast earlier this year.
“Having an Olympic medal at my home, a gold medal would be even better, is the pinnacle of what we can achieve. So I’m going to give it my all.”
With under five months to the start of this year’s Olympic Games, here is what Toledo had to say about Teahupo’o: the iconic, heavy, extreme wave that will put the world’s best surfers to the test as aim for gold and glory.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Brazil's Filipe Toledo surfs during Opening Round of the Oi Rio Pro 2022 at Itauna Beach in Saquarema, Brazil
Filipe Toledo talks Paris 2024 Olympics and Teahupo’o's perfect wave
For over a decade, Toledo’s life has been at the mercy of the Championship Tour, where he has been travelling the world non-stop for up to nine months out of every year.
From Portugal to Australia, Hawaii, Fiji, France, South Africa and beyond, the 28-year-old has risen to the top, achieving 17 event wins and world titles in 2022 and 2023.
It appears as though his trophy case is missing just one thing: an Olympic gold medal.
“The Olympic factor... it's something that comes out of our routine because it’s not the time of the year that we are used to going [to Tahiti],” he said. “We won’t face the same people, it’s not the same personnel. It gives me butterflies in my stomach, but even more motivation.”
Whether it’s Olympic butterflies or the sheer terror that can come from the wave commonly translated as ‘wall of skulls,’ is difficult to say.
But Toledo does admit the wave can conjure up a heady mix of emotions- even when you’re one of the greatest surfers on the planet.
“[Teahupo’o] is one of the strongest and most dangerous, but at the same time one of the most beautiful waves that brings an indescribable feeling.
“It’s a process [where] you go in really scared, you get there, you get wiped out and you might get injured. Then you come back and say ‘Wow, that wave is crazy’ and it becomes a challenge. You say to yourself ‘I need to go there, I need to get that perfect, beautiful, wonderful and scary wave’. You need to dominate it. And when you hit that first barrel, it begins a love affair,” he continued.
**“**You either ride the greatest wave of your life or take the worst fall. You have to be prepared for both scenarios.”
The risk is obviously worth the reward for the Brazilian, and - even with the potential dangers - it’s still the wave he would choose over any other.
“If someone asked me ‘Where do you want to go for a surf trip today?’, I’d say Tahiti.
“I love that place, the natural beauty; you can’t compare it to anywhere else in the world. The waves, the people, the food, the way they treat you. It’s my favourite place.”
Caroline Marks and Filipe Toledo celebrate after winning the 2023 Rip Curl WSL Finals at Lower Trestles in San Clemente, California.
Toledo at the ISA World Surfing Games
The ongoing ISA World Surfing Games will likely be the last time we will see Toledo in competition mode before everything goes down at ‘Chopes’ during the Olympics this summer.
His mentality? Just have fun with it.
“We compete as a team at the ISA Games, but at the same time [we compete] individually,” he said, reflecting on the unusual format of the event.
These Games, held on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, are different from most other surf competitions.
Athletes compete for themselves, but also for their country. And while individual competition is one element, the added component of comradery is introduced to the typically solitary sport.
“It’s a different feeling, but it’s also a good one. We get out of the tour routine and it’s a different mentality. We can support each other. We scream for each other, help each other, and we’re all together as a team,” he said.
Alongside Toledo on the Brazilian team in Puerto Rico are three-time world champion Gabriel Medina and Championship Tour surfer Yago Dora.
Watch the three and other Paris 2024 hopefuls compete at the final Olympic surfing qualifier from 23 February to 3 March on Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.