Islander Pete Devries waited a lifetime to see his sport accepted into the Olympics. Now, on the verge of his sport’s debut at the Summer Games in Tokyo, his dream of becoming an Olympian has been shattered.
It fell victim to a recent injury sustained while the Canadian team captain trained in his hometown of Tofino.
Even though surfing will be included for the Paris 2024 Olympics at Tahiti, and almost certainly for Los Angeles 2028, Devries is 38 and this may have been his only moment.
The nine-time Canadian champion, considered the world’s greatest cold-water surfer, was this nation’s biggest hope on the men’s side in the Tokyo Olympics qualifying meet beginning today in Surf City, El Salvador.
“Losing Pete is a massive blow to our Olympic program,” Victoria’s Dom Dominic, Surf Canada high performance director, said in a statement.
“However, I feel our team will rally together and this may just provide the extra motivation needed to carry our surfers over the qualification line.”
Devries’ place will be taken by Canadian men’s alternate Kalum Temple, 21, of Tofino, who expressed just how bittersweet this unexpected chance feels: “I am shocked to hear that Pete is out due to an injury. However, I am super-grateful for this opportunity to represent Canada in the Olympic qualifiers and I am so fired up to compete against some of the world’s best and have a shot at Tokyo.”
Despite the injury, Devries is still considered the Canadian team’s spiritual leader, and showed why he remains an inspirational figure to the team, saying: “I hope I’m cheering on someone from the Canadian team in the Olympics in a few months.”
There are still strong hopes on the women’s side for Canada through Mathea Olin, 18, from Tofino and Victoria born and raised Paige Alms, a veteran 32-year-old big-wave surfer based in Maui.
Bethany Zelasko of Huntington Beach, California, born to a Canadian mother, is the third Canadian female in the Olympic qualifier. They are part of the field of 256 surfers from 52 nations gathered in Central America looking to claim the final five men’s and final seven women’s berths into the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer. Fifteen of the 20 men’s slots and 13 of the 20 women’s spots have been filled based on results in the 2019 World Surf League Championship Tour and the 2019 ISA World Surfing Games.
Olin won Canada’s first-ever international gold medal in longboard at the 2017 Pan American championships. The Islander returned to Peru two years later and won the bronze in women’s longboard at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games to claim Canada’s first medal in surfing in a multi-sport Games. It may have been a harbinger. She has Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 yet ahead of her — where she could be joined by rising younger sister Sanoa Olin — but Mathea Olin has a definite shot at beginning her Olympic journey in Tokyo.
Olin grew up on the Cox Bay rollers idolizing Tofino surf legends such as Devries: “I started on a foam board and learned so much from watching those top surfers in Tofino, and then doing it myself. The ocean is our backyard and it’s part of everyday life in our community.”
The last-chance qualifier continues through the week in to next Sunday. Surfing’s Olympic debut will take place at Tsurigasaki Beach in Japan’s Chiba prefecture, about 65 kilometres from Tokyo.
More than 75 Island or Island-based athletes across several sports will compete in the Tokyo Olympics from July 23 to Aug. 8, and Tokyo Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
