IT’S a quantum leap from the breaking waves of Point Lookout to the 2024 Olympics surfing event at Teahupo’o, Tahiti, but homegrown surfing sensation Ethan Ewing is riding a wave of success all the way to Games glory.
Born and raised on North Stradbroke Island, Ewing was never going to be anything but a surfer – and a damn good one at that.
Following in the wake left behind by his trail-blazing late mother Helen, Ewing was bound to be a surfer and he cut his teeth making waves as a teenage surfing sensation at his beloved Point Lookout.
Currently ranked number two in the world, Ewing will live out a lifelong dream when he represents Australia at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and he will have his guardian angel riding every wave.
Ewing emulated his mother when he scored an emotional victory at the famous Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in April, 40 years after his pioneering mum won the same tournament and paved the way for international stars like Layne Beachley and Tyler Wright.
Now 24, and with a swag of international sponsors such as Billabong, Oakley and Monster backing him all the way, Ewing was a six-year-old, sandy-haired grommet when his mum died of breast cancer in 2005.
The tragic loss didn’t dim his passion for surfing, and with his father Ken and two brothers Brody and Curtis by his side and mentoring him, Ewing eventually made his way to the world surfing league.
Fate has again intervened in Ewing’s quest for Olympic glory.
The Olympics’ surfing competition will be staged at Teahupo’o in Tahiti, the very same wave on which he fractured his L2 and L3 vertebrae in a brutal wipeout in August last year.
But fortune favours the brave and Ewing will return to tame the Teahupo’o monster on his custom-made Darren Handley Design board when the Olympic competition takes place from July 27 to August 5.
FAST FACTS
Paris 2024’s surfing events will take place over four days in a 10-day window, from July 27 to August 5.
OLYMPIC HISTORY
In the 1920s, surfing fans, including three-time Olympic swimming freestyle champion and native Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, began campaigning for the sport to be added to the Olympic programme. Many years later, surfing finally made it onto the Olympic program for the Tokyo 2020 Games, and will return for Paris 2024; the legendary surfing spot Teahupo’o in Tahiti has been selected as the venue for the
surfing competition.
OVERVIEW OF THE RULES
Surfers perform manoeuvres and tricks on waves that are scored by five judges based on the variety, type, and difficulty of the tricks. Surfers are also judged on their speed, power and flow (the way in which a surfer seamlessly connects their moves from one to the next). Shortboards are the surfboards of choice for the Olympics. Smaller than longboards, shortboards are faster and more manoeuvrable, which makes them the ideal board for performing spectacular tricks.
