Surfing judged a winner says Olympic judge

Daniel Kosoof caught his first wave at Red Beach, where he grew up, when he was 12 years old.

He loved the sport and has surfed ever since, but competing was not for him. Judging, he says, was a way to stay involved. 

He’s been a judge since 2010, which included national competitions for Surfing NZ and the World Junior Titles in Peru in 2011. Recently he returned from Tokyo, where he was one of five judges for surfing’s debut at the Olympics.

Speaking to Hibiscus Matters from isolation, he says all the restrictions due to Covid meant he didn’t get to experience the full Olympic atmosphere.

“But the feeling of achievement, and excitement that the first wave was about to be ridden had all the surfers and officials on such an amazing high,” Kosoof says.

He says the waves in Japan are fickle. 

“On the first day we had waves and a rising typhoon swell which peaked during the finals, four days later. Throughout the competition we witnessed all kinds of conditions and some of the best high performance surfing ever seen.”

He was not surprised that, in the first week of the Olympics, viewer ratings put surfing in the top five.

Tahiti will host surfing at the 2024 Paris Olympics and Kosoof plans to be there.

“If the famous break of Teahupoo is firing, surfing will be hands down the most viewed sport in the next Olympics,” he promises.