It won’t be as terrific for Tofino in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, as it might have been this summer. Canada will have one competitor in surfing in the 2024 Paris Olympics, 18-year-old Sanoa Dempfle-Olin of Tofino, who will become Canada’s first-ever Olympic surfer. No Canadians made it to surf in the sport’s Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020.
Heralded Tofino-based teenage prodigy Erin Brooks, who won a long battle to gain Canadian citizenship ahead of the Games, came up short over the weekend at the last-chance Olympic qualifier in Puerto Rico. The 16-year-old world junior champion in 2022, and the silver medallist last year against competitors many years older at the World Surfing Games, was the surprise of the last-chance 2024 Olympic qualifying competition in PR but in an unfortunate way and will have to wait until Los Angeles 2028 or Brisbane 2032 for her moment in the Games spotlight. Also failing to qualify for Paris was Mathea Dempfle-Olin of Tofino, Sanoa’s 20-year-old sister and a 2019 Lima Pan Am Games medallist.
Despite the relative disappointment of Canada only having one surfer for the Paris Olympics, the future looks bright.
“We have such a fantastic young team, with surfers who have so much athletic life ahead of them, that they could be heard from through to Brisbane in 2032,” Dom Domic of Victoria, the high-performance and executive director of Surf Canada, has told the Times Colonist.
But for the 2024 Paris Olympics, among the famously imposing waves known as the Wall of Skulls in Teahupo’o, will be Sanoa Dempfle-Olin alone for Canada.
“Earning this Olympic spot is a dream come true for me. I honestly can’t believe it,” she said, after gaining her provisional berth through the Pan Am Games.
“Having the opportunity to head to Paris 2024 is something. I don’t even know what that looks like yet. I’m definitely very excited and I can’t believe it.
“I’m just very grateful and I’m excited to see where it brings me with all of the fun times and the learning that is going to come with it. I just feel super grateful for my family, my friends, and my whole team.”
She will be carrying them with her spiritually and in mind as she makes Canadian Olympic history by surfing in Tahiti this summer.
“My older sister [Mathea] pushed me and was an inspiration and mentor my whole life,” Sanoa told the Times Colonist.
“She set a bar for me to reach for. And I’ve kept her on her toes and pushed her as well. There are going to be a lot of competitions we are both at together.”
It won’t be at the Paris Olympics, but maybe L.A. or Brisbane. The Island is certain to play a role in that quest. Tofino is the spiritual and physical-wave capital of the sport in Canada, while administratively, the Surf Canada head office is based in Victoria.
