Paris 2024 Olympics: Women dominate day one of Olympic surfing
The women were charging on day one of the Paris 2024 surfing at Teahupo’o on Saturday (27 July), and the crowd made sure they knew it was appreciated.
As Carissa Moore exited the Olympic venue after emphatically winning her heat, a trail of noise followed her.
“We love you Carissa,” one young local girl yelled out as she squeezed her head through the fence of her family home.
The proud American wasn’t the only one to receive such attention and adoration. Almost every woman who left the venue after their first heat at the 2024 Olympic Games was greeted with cheers of support.
And rightly so. The woman dominated day one and proved yet again why they belong in the line-up.
That’s not to say the men didn’t deliver – but the women simply created an extra level of excitement and commanded respect of all the fans and media watching on from the shore.
This is significant given women have only been competing at this iconic wave of consequence since 2022. Had it not been for the Olympics, some of the 24 women in the competition probably still never would have ridden the mythical wave.
Take 15-year-old Siqi Yang of China. This week is her first time at Teahupo'o. The teen is riding one of the heaviest waves in the world - in her Olympic debut.
"Waves are super big but I like it. It's super clean. The waves are so good and so beautiful," she tells Olympics.com.
The Chinese surfer seems fearless, even when she had a massive blow out in her heat and was helped by water safely to a jetski.
"I really like it here," she adds.
Owning their place in the lineup
As the conditions improved through the day, the women's competition undoubtedly had the better wave size. In fact, the very best heat was saved until last.
Through each women's heat though, the commitment level was impressive.
When Fance’s Johanne Defay took a heavy fall and her face appeared to connect with her board, the whole crowd groaned. “Ouch, that looked painful,” one of the Brazilian support staff member said. After her heat, Defay was assessed by medical staff and taken in an ambulance and received one stitch in her forehead.
As Portugal's Yolanda Hopkins flew down the face of the wave and then had a brutal blow out, the crowd felt the punishing impact and grimaced with her. She paddled straight back out.
Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Moore says all of this is a reflection of progress over time.
“When I first started my pro career about 14 years ago there was a lot of discrepancy with men's and women’s surfing and inequality and now to see us all at the same venues and today was just another showcase where the women are stepping up and doing and performing just as well as the men, if not better!
“It’s awesome to see everyone pushing each other and motivating each other. This 'Yes I can' attitude, when you see someone else get a sick barrel or push their limit, it reminds you that you can do it too. It’s beautiful and rad and it’s only going to keep pushing woman’s surfing.”
Australia's Tyler Wright doesn't mince her words either, praising the development of female surfers as "we have embraced the fact the women are on a steeper learning curve than the men right now because they've had events here for so long. 25 years, could be longer. The women haven't. It's been two years."
"But it all comes from investment. When the WSL made it equal pay for women and so the development curve has continued since then and when we are asked to lift. We lift. We could have come up to this level, this wave a long time ago, but we weren't asked to. But now, here we are. We're in a generation now where the top girls are building out their skillset, but it takes time to progress because it's an investment.
"It is a wave of consequence and the women out here are doing an incredible job. I've seen so many huge performances in the free and surfs. So all the women are taking this opportunity and I'm really proud of the women and how they are showing up." - Tyler Wright