(ATR) International Olympic Committee sports director Kit McConnell is attending the World Surfing Games in Biarritz for an initial impression into what a major surfing event is all about.
Ideally, the trip will help McConnell and the IOC brainstorm about how the sport and its unique culture can be best incorporated into the Tokyo 2020 program.
"It’s really important that we embrace the spirit of the sport," McConnell tells Around the Rings. "We want to really celebrate the sport – that’s a really important part about having surfing in the Olympic Games. We take the Olympic movement to them and they bring the surfing community to us and we create something special."
McConnell is observing the International Surfing Association operations and event delivery at the World Surfing Games. The nine-day individual and team championship is the ISA’s signature event.
"We’re getting some ideas not only about how the ISA works with its athletes and the local organizing committee, but also about some of the ideas that we can take forward to Tokyo," McConnell tells ATR.
Nearly 250 surfers from 47 countries are competing in France, many riding their short-boards harnessing Olympic dreams. In Tokyo 2020, as the sport makes its Olympic debut, 20 male and 20 female surfers will ride waves in quest of medals.
McConnell is meeting with ISA president Fernando Aguerre and executive director Robert Fasulo to continue the dialogue of how surfing – one of five new sports on the Tokyo 2020 program – can be smoothly and successfully integrated into the Olympic fold.
"As you see here, the field of play is different, the whole festival and environment is different, the way you integrate the venue with the location…here a city downtown, but in Chiba it will be a wider prefecture," McConnell said.
"These are the types of things we’re looking for the experience to come through and obviously along with that the voice of the athlete," he said. "What is the athlete looking for from their Olympic experience and how can we make that the pinnacle for the surfers out there?"
The IOC sports director said he believes the classic lifestyle sport will prosper as an Olympic sport. While the sport, obviously, will have to adhere to and meet Olympic standards, McConnell said most of the sport presentation and delivery is being left to the ISA, as is now the case with all Olympic sport federations.
"We’re expanding the role of the federations across the board," McConnell said. "There is no one more experienced with the sports than the federations. For the ISA, this is drawing on that experience they have and others from the surfing community and working with the organizing committee and ourselves."
Aguerre proposes a festival atmosphere celebrating the surfing lifestyle and culture on Tsurigasaki Beach at the 2020 Tokyo Games. He says it will include yoga on the beach, healthy food and top notch musical artists.
But could it become too much of a party for an Olympic venue? McConnell doesn’t seem concerned, rather embracing the challenge.
"How do we bring the venue and the festival to life – what does the surfing venue feel like?" McConnell ponders. "We want music, we want youth engagement and some activities for the people who are there.
"That’s a really important part so that whole experience of a surfing festival in the Olympic context is something we’re trying to bring to life in 2020."
McConnell says surfing’s environmental awareness and commitment to preservation of the ocean could be another important element of the overall Olympic experience and message at Chiba Prefecture in three years time.
"Surfing offers us a real opportunity to highlight the importance of the environment and create that connection between the natural environment and the people of Tokyo."
Written and reported by Brian Pinelli in Biarritz
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