South African surfers Jordy Smith and Sarah Baum qualify for Paris 2024 at 2023 ISA World Surfing Games
Smith and Baum claim quotas as the top-ranked male and female athletes from Africa and become the first surfers to qualify to Paris 2024 through the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games. Watch the live stream of the competition on Olympics.com to see the remaining six tickets handed out.
Surfing
South African surfers Jordy Smith and Sarah Baum have qualified to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games through the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador.
A total of eight qualification spots – four men and four women – will be handed out at the competition to athletes from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
- How to qualify for surfing at Paris 2024
- Riding the waves in El Salvador: A preview of the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games
- 2023 ISA World Surfing Games: Day 5 results, highlights, and livestream from the Olympic qualifier event
Jordy Smith: From Tokyo 2020 injury to Paris 2024 comeback
Smith took the quota as the top-ranked male surfer from Africa. He is still in the running to claim the world title in El Salvador and is set to compete in the men’s round 5 on Tuesday, 5 June.
Smith previously qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, but decided to pull out of the competition due to a last-minute injury.
"Missing (Tokyo) 2020 definitely hurt and made me strive more now to be able to get there for 2024 Paris,” Smith told Olympics.com.
_"_It’s great that surfing has become a part of the Olympics. It's potentially opened the eyes to people around the world that have never known anything or much about surfing,” he added. “When I was a little kid, I didn't really think about it because it wasn't a possibility. And as times have gone on, it's now a possibility and you talk to kids in and around the beach and it's something that they strive for. It's something that they really want to be a part of.”
Sarah Baum: Proving her worth
Baum clinched the African women’s spot after advancing to the women’s repechage round 5 at the 2013 ISA World Surfing Games.
Paris 2024 will be an Olympic debut for Baum, who follows in the footsteps of fellow South African surfer Bianca Buitendag who claimed the silver medal at Tokyo 2020.
_"_I grew up surfing with Bianca. We're always neck and neck in each event and back then, we always thought that her and I would be on this on the Championship Tour and maybe at the Olympics at the same time. But we kind of just went on different paths, so I still feel like I deserve that,” Baum told Olympics.com.
"I've grown so much more than when I was younger. I feel like now is the time to do it and everything's falling into place. And even though I live out of South Africa, I'm so proud to be South African and I've always just wanted to wave the flag wherever I am.”