Section 4: Players & Officials
4.1 Competitors
- Olympic field: 20 men and 20 women, qualified through ISA World Surfing Games, WSL Championship Tour rankings, continental quota, and host nation allocation.
- ISA World Surfing Games: Teams of up to 4 men and 4 women per member nation. Nations enter as teams; individual and team medals are awarded.
- Age eligibility: No minimum age for ISA events (governed by national federation). Olympic eligibility follows IOC age rules and national Olympic committee selection criteria.
- Nationality: Surfers represent their nation of citizenship. Dual-nationality athletes must declare their representing nation and observe any applicable stand-down periods if switching.
4.2 Seeding
Competitors are seeded based on a combination of ISA rankings, WSL rankings, and prior event results. Top-seeded surfers are separated in the draw to avoid early-round matchups. Seeding determines jersey color assignment in each heat (highest seed typically receives first color choice).
4.3 Officials
- Competition Director: The highest authority on-site. Responsible for calling competition on or off, determining heat schedules, managing the waiting period, and making final decisions on safety holds. Has authority to modify heat duration based on conditions.
- Head Judge: Oversees the judging panel, ensures scoring consistency, and may intervene to recalibrate scores if panel drift is detected. Reviews and confirms all interference calls.
- Judging Panel: Five (5) judges score each wave independently. Judges are positioned on an elevated platform or scaffolding on the beach with a clear view of the competition zone. Each judge assigns a score from 0.0 to 10.0 for every wave ridden.
- Priority Judge: Monitors and enforces the priority system. Determines which surfer has priority at any given moment during the heat. Signals priority status to surfers via a flag or electronic display system.
- Beach Marshall: Manages the competitor area on the beach, ensures surfers are ready for their heats, enforces jersey and equipment rules, and coordinates surfer transitions between heats.
- Water Safety Director: Commands the jet ski water safety team. Responsible for surfer rescue, clearing the lineup of hazards, and communicating conditions to the Competition Director.
- Scorer / Tabulator: Records judges' scores, applies the drop-highest/drop-lowest calculation, computes heat totals, and publishes results in real time.
4.4 Judge Qualifications
ISA judges must hold current ISA judging certification and demonstrate experience across multiple competition levels. The ISA conducts annual judging seminars and calibration workshops. Panel composition aims for geographic diversity to minimize cultural bias in wave assessment.