Two, three, four? "Ruthless" surfer Yolanda Hopkins Sequeira leaving space for more Olympic tattoos

A fresh tattoo is not going to stop Yolanda Hopkins Sequeira from going surfing.

After all, there are many Olympic Games editions she still has to train for.

“I had the Olympic rings and I wrote Tokyo 2020, and I got Paris 2024,” Sequeira says, listing her tattoos for the Olympics.com podcast, the raw gleam of her newest addition still visible under a tight transparent cover.

“I left some space for LA (2028) and even Brisbane (2032).”

The Portuguese surfer secured a quota* to her second Olympic Games, Paris 2024, through the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games in March. But she is already setting her sights beyond the competition in Tahiti, looking ahead to the later editions in USA and Australia.

*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.

Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.

• PODCAST: Portuguese surfer Yolanda Hopkins Sequeira on tackling Tahiti waves at Paris 2024: 'I'm ruthless in the water''
• World Surfing Games 2024: Yolanda Sequeira, Sol Aguirre, and Taina Hinckel secure first Olympic quotas
• How to qualify for surfing at Paris 2024. The Olympics qualification system explained

A passion for the Olympics is something Sequeira shares with thousands of athletes. Unlike most of them, however, she only got the Olympic bug after going to the Games herself.

“When I first qualified for Tokyo, I didn't know what the whole fuss was about because surfing had never been in the Olympics,” Sequeira said.

“When I got there and was at the Village and we did the Opening Ceremony with all the teams coming up from under the stadium, that was when it really hit me. So, when I qualified this time, I already had that feeling. I already know how it felt, so it was twice as strong emotionally and it was a goal that I wanted to achieve since I'd been to Tokyo.”

Yolanda Sequeira: “I'm ruthless in the water”

While Yolanda Sequeira spends much of her day at the beach, don’t expect to find her sunbathing on the sand.

First, she does not like sand. She prefers rocks. And second, watching the waves from shore is simply not her idea of a good time.

“If we go to the beach, I have to be able to surf because otherwise it's just going to be boring for me,” Sequeira said.

And if she is surfing, watch out.

“I'm quite ruthless in the water,” the two-time European surfing champion said. “I'm very competitive, so it tends to be quite a big trait on me because when I go in the water, it doesn't matter who you are. You can be my biggest idol, but when I go in the water, I'm not thinking of that. I'm just thinking I want to win.”

That competitive side is something Sequeira says she gets from her Portuguese father. Her Wales-born mother, on the other hand, has a more relaxed approach to life.

“I got quite a bit of a mellow side, which I think comes from my mum,” Sequeira said. “But my dad was very, very competitive and I think that's one of my biggest strong suits is how competitive I am. I'm kind of like a dog with a bone. I don't like to let go for any chance. It can be in the ocean, competing, or even just having a fun game of football. I'm so competitive. I just don't like losing and I go to any extreme to win.”

The ocean is the ultimate battlefield for the 25-year-old. Facing top-level opponents from around the world – as well as the unpredictability of nature – Sequeira’s path to victory is rarely easy.

So, she makes sure to give herself a solid start with a confident internal monologue.

“When I'm going surfing, I go in the water and I think I'm the best out there. Nobody's going to beat me if I do my surfing,” Sequeira said. “I tend to put myself a bit more on a higher level, like on a pedestal. Other people might not agree with me, but it's what is in my head. I think that I'm the best. I'm going to beat everybody, and I came here to win."

Under the sea with Yolanda Sequeira

Given Sequeira’s insatiable hunger for victory, it is hardly a surprise what her response is when asked what superpower she would like to have.

“Being able to breathe in the water would be the best go-to,” she mused. “You just get to stay in the ocean. You don't even need to hydrate. You just keep being in the water, and if you go under, there's no trouble. You can breathe underwater, it's fine.”

Even without that superhuman skill, Sequeira makes the water her natural habitat. When at home, she rises every day long before dawn, trains at her home gym and then heads out for three to four daily surf sessions.

In fact, so much of Sequeira’s life revolves around surfing that she has even discovered some unexpected talents in meteorology.

“I sometimes think that I'm the weather woman,” she said. “I have to check a couple of times a day if the winds change, if the swell angle changed, and the tides. But it's actually quite cool to have that in our toolbox as a professional surfer. It's really good.”

From the Atlantic to the Pacific: Yolanda Sequeira’s battle plan for Paris 2024

One weather forecast Sequeira will be paying close attention to in the coming months is that of Teahupo’o, the site of the next Olympic surfing competition.

While Sequeira has not surfed the famous Tahitian wave yet, she is not intimidated thanks to her home practice sessions off the coast of Portugal.

“We have plenty of reef as well, and a lot of barrel waves formed by reefs,” said the surfer, who is also planning to go to a training camp in Teahupo’o before the surfing events start on 27 July.

“Obviously it's a way more intense wave because, if you see the videos, you see the wave's got no back. It's the whole ocean into it. So, I know it's going to be quite intense, but we do have a couple of those in Portugal and it's great to train here.”

Sequeira made it to the quarter-finals at Tokyo 2020 before falling to eventual silver medallist Bianca Buitendag of South Africa. With a fifth-place finish, she was the most successful Portuguese surfer at the Games.

And she is dreaming even bigger for Paris 2024.

“I don't go for anything less than the win,” Sequeira said. “No matter where I'm from - I can be a little bit of an underdog - but I want the gold medal. It is no two ways about it. I want to go to Teahupo'o and win.”