What Do Pro Surfers Really Think About The Olympics?

Last week the Olympic Committee announced surfing will be included in the 2020 Games in Tokyo. In terms of mainstream publicity, sponsorships and recognition this would appear good news for the sport. But the surfing world is a small and vaguely cohesive unit at the best of times - a split between corporate surfwear giants and fringe-living degenerates who hate nothing more than mainstream publicity and international sports meets.

Many surfers say that the Olympics will wreak havoc on the sport, and the mainstream attention will destroy the purity and anti-establishment culture of surfing. Others believe the mainstream attention will lead to the growth of the sport, further support for athletes and general credit to the sport.

Current world number one, Tyler Wright, couldn't be happier about the news. "Yeah, of course I want surfing in the Olympics. I think it's a great thing for the sport. It'll be interesting to see how it unfolds though, in terms of how many people surf for each country, whether it's held in the ocean or a wave pool, all of that stuff. But I personally can't wait."

Tyler's teammate at Rip Curl and fellow World Tour surfer Nikki van Dijk, agrees. "Yeah, I do think it needs to be in a wave pool though, otherwise people just wouldn't get it. They'd lose interest if we did it in the ocean, especially in Japan, where the surf isn't always world-class. I think that the only people who don't want surfing in the Olympics are people who think it'd be a bad representation of what we do – but if it's a world-class wave pool, that would be eliminated."

Professional free-surfer and globe-spinning Californian, Dillon Perillo is less convinced.

"I find it hard to prophesize," he said. "What happened when the X-Games introduced surfing? Was it a good thing? It hardly lasted. But, now there's a 'wave pool' – only that wave pool is in Bakersfield, California. What good is it going to do if the Olympics are in some other country? Unless it's held in a wave pool, specifically Kelly Slater's wave pool (the one in Bakersfield), surfing is way too variable to be an Olympic sport," he says.

"I'm a sceptic, honestly. How many waves are required to hold an Olympic surf competition? Can the pool support enough waves? I don't have enough information to make a judgement. But it comes down to what it means that something is 'good' for the sport. How do you define 'good'? I think surfing is good enough already, don't you?"