May 13, 2024

Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, set to become Canada’s first-ever surfing Olympian, can’t wait to get her feet wet on the waves of Teahupo’o, Tahiti, where the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing competition will take place .

“[The wave at Teahupo’o] can be big and scary, but it’s also a really fun wave,” says Dempfle-Olin, who has ridden the tropical tube before.

Teahupo’o is a renowned surf spot, which has notably hosted the Tahiti Pro, a major competition on the World Surf League calendar, for more than 20 years. This also offers some advantages to the 18 year old.

“I’m an awkward footer, which means I’m at the front of this wave because it’s a left. So that’s definitely one of my personal strengths,” says Dempfle-Olin.

Read: Surfing 101 with Sanoa Dempfle-Olin

The conditions in Tahiti will be very different from the waves Dempfle-Olin grew up surfing in her home in Tofino, British Columbia. But now that she spends so much time traveling to different countries to compete, it doesn’t seem as strange as it used to. at first to surf without a wetsuit.

One of the places Dempfle-Olin traveled to compete was Chile last October for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games. She provisionally qualified for Paris 2024 by making it to the final of the women’s shortboard competition . Dempfle-Olin went on to win the silver medal.

Believe it or not, this wasn’t the first Pan American Games surfing medal for Dempfle-Olin’s family, despite the sport’s short history in major multi-sport events. The sport debuted at the Pan American Games at Lima 2019, where Dempfle-Olin’s older sister, Mathea, won Canada’s first-ever Pan American medal in surfing, winning bronze in women’s longboard, which is not part of the program Olympic. Surfing made its Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 with the shortboard events, although Canada did not qualify any athletes.

Despite his family’s history, or perhaps because of it, Dempfle-Olin has kept his goals for Santiago 2023 quiet.

“I was really quiet about my intentions to go. I never told anyone what a big deal I was making for myself,” Dempfle-Olin said.

The young surfer believes that sibling rivalry with her older sister has been a healthy motivation for her surfing activities.

“Mathea and I were very competitive growing up, from surfing to silly things like making breakfast in the morning or cleaning our rooms. Everything has always been a competition, but it’s always been a healthy competition,” says Dempfle-Olin. “I think that’s why we’ve both been able to get to the level we’re at now. We are always there to support each other and push each other when we need it.

Two months before the Pan American Games, Dempfle-Olin achieved a career highlight by winning his first World Surf League qualifying series event, the WRV Outer Banks Pro in North Carolina. In January 2024, she earned her first WSL Pro Junior victory at the SLO CAL Open in Pismo Beach, California. She also made history in 2017 when she became the youngest surfer in history to win the Tofino Rip Curl Pro at the age of 11.

Dempfle-Olin confirmed her provisional qualification for Paris 2024 by competing at the ISA World Surfing Games 2024, where she finished tied for 13th.

The Paris 2024 organizing committee chose to stage the surfing competitions in Teahupo’o, which is part of French Polynesia, to align with its ambition to broadcast the Games across France. It offers the opportunity to involve French overseas territories and their communities in the Olympic Games while highlighting the diversity of French heritage, particularly French Polynesian culture.

As will be the case for the Santiago 2023 Olympic Games, the surfing competition took place some distance from the central hub of the competition venues and had its own satellite athletes’ village. Therefore, having a close-knit support team for Team Canada is even more important. When Dempfle-Olin qualified for Paris 2024, the rest of the Team Canada crew at Santiago 2023 rushed into the ocean fully dressed to celebrate with her.