China's next wave of talent?

ISA boss has high hopes for surfing's Olympic debut, Xinhua reports

Surfing's world governing body is trying to make the world a better place through the sport, Fernando Aguerre, the president of the International Surfing Association (ISA), said on Monday. "The ocean is probably one of the very few places left that is free to everybody," Aguerre said in an exclusive interview at his home in sunny San Diego on Monday. "The vision of the ISA is to make the world a better place through surfing ... so we can connect." added the man who started lobbying the IOC in 1995 to get surfing into the Summer Olympics.

Aguerre's collection of 190 surf boards, many handmade in Hawaii, includes some from the 19th century.

He started to collect the boards about 25 years ago, and he's equally enthused about every other aspect of the sport. The 61-year-old Argentine's love of surfing dates to his childhood, and he has dedicated his life to spreading that love.

"The ISA is focused on helping to take surfing to as many countries as possible around the world, because there are millions and millions of people living beside the ocean who don't realize it is a perfect playground," Aguerre said.

According to the website SurferToday, there are an estimated 23 million surfers worldwide. That's less than 10 percent of the number of active soccer players, but the sport is on the rise, with 50 million surfers projected by 2020.

In March, Aguerre's dream was realized when surfing was officially added to the schedule for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"It really took a lot of effort," he said. "I think bringing youth sports to the Olympic movement will make the Games even more vital."

Aguerre thinks the heightened profile will bring more opportunities to develop surfing - especially for countries like China, where it's in a nascent stage.

"Although the large majority of surfers are from Australia, Brazil, and the US, the Olympic surfing competition will be truly universal," Aguerre said.

Twenty male and 20 female short-board surfers will compete for the sport's first Olympic medals at Tokyo 2020. China's national surfing team was founded in 2017 with the first generation consisting of around 20 men and women, coached by Australian Peter Townend.

With equally assigned slots for every participating country and region and the proper resources and support allocated for surfing, Aguerre is optimistic about the Chinese squad's chances in Tokyo.

"The attraction of surfing is universal ... it always means nature, happiness and excitement," he said.

However, obstacles preventing some places from promoting the sport are not solely physical. They are cultural, too.

Although China has vast stretches of coastline, the sport is not part of the Chinese cultural gene. It is viewed primarily as a recreational pursuit, and Aguerre believes that in order to flourish "there needs to be more beachgoers in China".

"You have the coastline, then you have the equipment already being manufactured in China and exported all over the world," he said.

"You have a huge number of young people who want to try their hand at surfing. You just need to start using the country's great beaches.

"The culture of surfing comes from being on the beach, going to the ocean, swimming and understanding the ocean, studying the waves. A lot of what happens is simply a consequence of going to the beach."

Aguerre first went to China in 2012 for the first ISA China Cup, and was impressed by the waves and landscape.

"It is just taking this surfing culture and sport forward to new places and letting people interpret it according to their own culture," he said, adding he hopes getting surfing into the Olympics will inspire more Chinese to get involved with the sport.

"Part of the lure of surfing is to bring people together, regardless of social, racial, linguistic or religious differences," Aguerre said.

"That is a true universal gift for all countries and all peoples of the world."