Surfing Association Seeks to Make Waves with IOC

Celebrating fifty years, the International Surfing Association (ISA) is seeking to increase the sport’s global visibility with hopes of joining the Olympic program.

On a gorgeous Wednesday afternoon at SportAccord 2014, the ISA hosted a demonstration at the Susesi resort pool featuring Danish world champion stand-up paddler Casper Steinfath.

Surfing association president Fernando Aguerre expressed excitement regarding the sport’s future while speaking to Around the Rings following the demonstration.

"We’ve been working on developing the sport regardless of Olympic goals," Aguerre told ATR. "For us, Olympic participation is the consequence of us doing the right things."

"We think about all the benefits that we could bring to the Olympic movement. Think about the Winter Games today. You now have halfpipe, boardercross, [and] slopestyle," said Aguerre, an Argentinian who resides in La Jolla, California.

"The demographics of surfing are similar: lifestyle, culture, and youth.The Summer Games are missing some of these things, and we’ll bring a different viewership to the Olympic Games that will add value," Aguerre said.

Aguerre, who has led the ISA since 1994, is hoping to ride the crest of the IOC’s new leadership under Thomas Bach, expressing optimism that the 60-year-old German is amenable to fresh sports joining the Olympic program.

Steinfath, who won both gold and silver medals at the world championship in Nicaragua, is also stoked about the sport’s Olympic potential.

"You have to ask yourself what it would be like to be in the Olympics and if you want to be there. Personally, it’s a big dream of mine," the 20-year old Steinfath said. "To be able to be part of this movement of sports in the world, man, that would be so fun."

"I don't know if it’s going to be the next Olympic Games or the ones after that or if my kids will go to the Olympics, but I believe surfing or stand-up paddling deserves to be in the Olympics," said the 2013 world champion.

The youthful action sport also used the SportAccord stage to promote new, innovative wave pool technology that could revolutionize surfing, making itmore accessible to the Olympic Games by enabling the sport to be contested almost anywhere.

"With the new technology of wave development, you could go anywhere in the world with surfing and with stand-up paddling. It would even be easier," said Steinfath. "You just need any body of water, like pools, lakes, oceans, or fjords, and that’s the beauty of it."

"It’s a process, but my fingers are crossed," Steinfath said about his sport’s ambitions to go Olympic.

The ISA currently has 82 member federations across all five continents, and its aim is to reach 100 by the end of 2015.

Currently, 35 million people across the globe surf with an estimated 14 million between the ages of 12 and 24.

"The demographics are very powerful, very solid," Aguerre said about the lifestyle sport. "We’re not a fad. We’re not a trend. We’re a culture, and I think we can bring great value to the Olympic movement."

Written by Brian Pinelli

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