JAKARTA, Indonesia – Despite being a three-time world champion in her sport, Liv Stone realized earlier this year that she may never have the chance to compete at the Olympic level.
The 21-year-old para-surfer was one of many in the sport’s international community who were distressed to discover that, despite years of advocacy, para-surfing – a form of surfing that allows people with physical disabilities to ride waves in a board or wave ski – would not be included in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“When I heard he didn’t get in, I was shocked,” Stone said. “Not just for my career, but for all the other athletes.”
With para-surfing not selected for the Los Angeles Games, Stone and other members of the para-surfing and surfing communities are strengthening their case for the sport to be included in future Paralympics, offering creative solutions to help keep their dreams alive. Paralympic surfers afloat. .
The push for para-surfing to be included in the Paralympics has been a priority for more than half a decade, Stone said.
“We pushed for more than five years to get to the Paris Olympics,” Stone said. “Then Paris arrived and we weren’t there…I realized we needed to keep pushing.”
Advocates quickly turned their efforts to the 2028 Los Angeles Games, feeling that the sport met many of the criteria that needed to be considered, including a certain number of countries and regions from the International Paralympic Committee, a disability-based classification system, and approximate gender parity for certain divisions, said five-time para-surfing world champion Victoria Feige, 38.
But then came the announcement: para-surfing would be passed over at the Los Angeles Paralympics, with para-climbing included.
“LA28’s assessment of Para Climbing and Para Surfing was informed by global and domestic popularity, universality across major international events, as well as the cost and complexity of both sports within the context of the LA28 site master plan,” he wrote. a Los Angeles Olympics spokesperson in an email to The Associated Press.
“In finalizing our proposal, LA28 needed to strike a balance between its commitment to growing the Paralympic Movement and our commitment to managing the size of the Games and our financial responsibility to the city of Los Angeles.”
Feige said she was disappointed when she heard the announcement, but with a new sense of determination to include parasurfing in the Games – whether at the Los Angeles 2028 or Brisbane 2032 Olympics, she said. “Cost is a real factor. We recognize that,” Feige said. “But I’ve really been trying to think about how we can show our value in terms of corporate sponsorship, how we can show our value in terms of viewership and how can we as athletes showcase our sport in a way that would justify a higher cost? high.”
Feige said she and others began brainstorming solutions that could help reduce costs or alleviate logistical difficulties, including the idea that a wave pool could be used to address water security and infrastructure issues, or corporate sponsorships or crowdfunding could be used to solve the highest problems. costs.
The ideas and advocacy gained attention, and in June an online petition began calling for parasurfing to be included in the Los Angeles Games, garnering more than 19,000 signatures.
The push to include para-surfing in the Paralympics also has the support of the International Surfing Association, the global authority that governs surfing and is recognized by the International Olympic Committee, which advocated for para-surfing to be included in the Games and host the Championships. ISA World Surfing Para (Adaptivo) since 2015.
“You can’t get every wave you want – you can’t even get every wave you paddle on. So what do you do? You go out and paddle harder. That’s what we’re doing,” ISA president Fernando Aguerre told AP. “We will continue to develop para-surfing around the world, including explaining why it should be part of the Paralympic Games.”
Although the battle for para-surfing’s inclusion in the next Paralympics is ongoing, Feige said he remains optimistic.
“If we can navigate the ocean with our disabilities, we will have great determination and creativity to find a solution to this problem as well,” Feige said. “We just need a chance to show what we can do.”
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