The South African surfing team for the Paris Olympics 2024 have departed the country.
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South Africa will be represented by three competitors in the men’s and women’s surfing competition at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Jordy Smith and Matthew McGillivray will compete in the men’s event, while Sarah Ann Baum will be Mzansi’s lone women’s entrant.
Christopher Bond (coach) and Rezar De Nicker (coach, manager) will accompany the team.
Smith took to Instagram ahead of departure to post a reel ahead of boarding their flight.
The surfing events at this year’s Paris Olympics will take place over four days in a 10-day window, from 27 July to 5 August.
Legendary surfing spot Teahupo’o in Tahiti has been selected as the venue for the surfing competition.
Teahupo’o is a village on the southwestern coast of the island of Tahiti, French Polynesia, in the southern Pacific Ocean.
Surfing finally made it onto the Olympic programme for the Tokyo 2020 Games, where South Africa memorably won a silver medal in the women’s competition courtesy of Bianca Buitendag.
Buitendag hung up her board shortly after the Tokyo Olympics concluded.
HOW THE SURFING COMPETITION WILL WORK
The 24 athletes of each gender slated to compete will be divided into eights heats comprised of three athletes each.
The winner of each heat will advance to the Round of 16, while the remaining two contestants will compete in a repechage to fill the remaining eight places.
The first round of heats have been drawn.
Sarah Ann Baum has been drawn in Heat 1 of the women’s competition alongside Yolanda Hopkins of Portugal and American Caroline Marks.
Baum and Hopkins are unranked, while Marks is No 2 in the world.
Meanwhile, Jordy Smith has been drawn in Heat 1 of the men’s competition alongside Australia’s Ethan Ewing and Germany’s Tim Elter.
Smith is ranked fifth in the world, while Ewing is fourth and Elter is unranked in the 2024 standings.
Matthew McGillivray has been drawn in Heat 2 along with Joan Duru of France and Australian Jack Robinson.
McGillivray is ranked 17th in the world, while Duru is unranked and Robinson is the world’s second-best surfer according to the WSL rankings.
WOMEN’S SURFING HEAT DRAW
- Heat 1: Yolanda Hopkins (POR), Caroline Marks (USA), Sarah Ann Baum (RSA)
- Heat 2: Sol Aguirre (PER), Janire Etxabarri (ESP), Vahine Fierro (FRA)
- Heat 3: Anat Lelior (ISR), Sanoa Dempfle-Olin (CAN), Tyler Wright (AUS)
- Heat 4: Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), Molly Picklum (AUS), Caitlin Simmers (USA)
- Heat 5: Johanne Defay (FRA), Brisa Hennessy (CRC), Candelaria Resano (NCA)
- Heat 6: Tainá Hinckel (BRA), Camila Kemp (GER), Luana Silva (BRA)
- Heat 7: Nadia Erostarbe (ESP), Siqi Yang (CHN), Saffi Vette (NZL)
- Heat 8: Carissa Moore (USA), Teresa Bonvalot (POR), Matsuda Shino (JPN)
MEN’S SURFING HEAT DRAW
- Heat 1: Ethan Ewing (AUS), Tim Elter (GER), Jordy Smith (RSA)
- Heat 2: Joan Duru (FRA), Jack Robinson (AUS), Matthew McGillivray (RSA)
- Heat 3: Alonso Correa (PER), Filipe Toledo (BRA), Kanoa Igarashi (JPN)
- Heat 4: Gabriel Medina (BRA), Connor O’Leary (JPN), Bryan Perez (ESA)
- Heat 5: Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR), Billy Stairmand (NZL), João Chianca (BRA)
- Heat 6: Andy Criere (ESP), John John Florence (USA), Alan Cleland (MAR)
- Heat 7: Kauli Vaast (FRA), Lucca Mesinas (PER), Griffin Colapinto (USA)
- Heat 8: Rio Waida (INA), Leonardo Fioravanti (ITA), Inaba Reo (JPN)
PRIZE MONEY ON OFFER
As reported by The South African website, the South African Sports Confederation, Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Sascoc) has confirmed the prize money on offer for any South African medal winners – as well as their coaches.
– Athletes who win gold will be awarded R400 000, with the coach receiving R100 000
– Silver medalists will earn R200 000 and R50 000 for the coach
– Bronze medal payouts will be R75 000 and R25 000 for the athlete and coach, respectively
TEAM SA SURFING TEAM FOR PARIS OLYMPICS 2024
Men: Matthew McGillivray, Jordy Smith
Women: Sarah Ann Baum
Management: Christopher Bond (coach), Rezar De Nicker (coach, manager)
