Tofino teen qualifies to be first Canadian to surf at Olympic Games

Sanoa Dempfle-Olin grew up shredding the cold water waves in Tofino, B.C.

Now, she’s secured a provisional ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics after an outstanding silver medal performance at the recent Pan American Games in Chile. She’s the first Canadian to qualify for surfing in the Olympics, after it debuted two years ago in Tokyo.

Dempfle-Olin, 18, says when she first realized the results of her performance, she was overcome by a “crazy feeling” that she couldn’t quite wrap her head around.

“I celebrated and got super overwhelmed with emotions, then I was like ‘someone needs to tell me this is for real and I’m not dreaming.'”

It wasn’t until she paddled up to the beach, saw her team celebrating and received a physical ticket to the Olympics by the president of the International Surfing Association, that she could stop pinching herself.

“It’s sunk in a lot more since I got home,” she said. “I’m also definitely really tired, there was a lot of work, nerves and efforts in and around the event.”

Despite being at a “satellite village” four hours away from the main Pan American Games venue in Santiago, Dempfle-Olin says she had an amazing experience as an athlete at the games.

She says she went down to scout out the competition site and get to know the wave two weeks before she had to compete, which helped a lot.

“That wave is super tricky and it changes a lot for the contest,” she said.

Luckily, Dempfle-Olin says being a “goofy-footed” surfer — standing with her right foot forward — worked to her advantage because she got to surf forehand, or face the wave with her toes the whole time, which was more comfortable.

To transform her provisional ticket into a permanent one, Dempfle-Olin says she needs to surf at one more competition in 2024. If she does well there, she could double-qualify for the Olympics. But if two other Canadian surfers place first and second, she could be bumped out of her spot.

“The only thing I have to do is show up at this one event that’s at the beginning of 2024,” she said. “Other than that, I just have to keep training and surfing and learning as much as I can.”

Until then, she says she’ll be attending a few more competitions she had already signed up for prior to the Pan American Games. On Monday, Dempfle-Olin will jet off with her sister, also a famous Canadian surfer, to keep competing.

Dempfle-Olin says her older sister is her main source of inspiration. She says their mum homeschooled the siblings until high school and taught them how to surf at a very young age.

As a competitive person, she says she’s excited to be working towards a goal that’s really motivating, even if it wasn’t part of her plan.

“The Olympics were a dream but they really weren’t part of the plan, so we’re all over the moon.”

-With files from Maria Vinca