Surfing became officially an Olympic sport

Surfing got its official status as the Olympic sports. On Thursday the International Olympic Committee announced this wonderful news. In 2020, the Tokyo Games will welcome new sport.

The IOC voted for adding the surfing to the sporting menu of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympiad. The Tokyo Games organizers did their best to include such a wonderful activity into the OG 2020 menu.

Surf event will take place in the ocean, not a wave pool; no more than 40 competitors (20 men and 20 women) from all the world countries. Moreover, the IOC insisted on the high-performance short-boarding only. The venue in Japan will be Chiba, for visitors it will take 45 minutes by the comfortable train from Tokyo.

The Japanese authorities decided to host the surfing battle in the ocean, not in the pool because of a simple reason. The IOC tired from the “white elephants”—structures that have no use after the Olympics are over. In some countries, the Olympic Games were a resource for the laundering money and corruption scandals. So, Tokyo wants to focus on legacy, on building things that can be used by host cities after the games.