Sanoa Dempfle-Olin bobbed in the Pacific waves with her face in her hands when she realized what was ahead of her.
The 18-year-old surfer from Tofino, B.C., qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games by reaching Monday’s Pan American Games women’s final. No Canadians surfed when the sport made its Olympic debut in Tokyo just over two years ago.
With Brazilian finalist Tatiana Weston-Webb already bound for Paris – although the French Polynesian island of Tahiti will provide the Olympic surfing venue – the 18-year-old Canadian needed a semi-final win for Olympic qualification.
Dempfle-Olin posted two strong scores early in the semi-final session for a 10-4.20 win over Costa Rica’s Leilani McGonagle.
“Getting towards the end of the heat, I was in the lead, and before the buzzer sounds, anything can happen,” Dempfle-Olin told The Canadian Press.
“As soon as I heard the countdown and heard the buzzer sound, I definitely felt all the emotions, releasing the pressure, all of it from the last two weeks of training here.
“So after the heat, after it was official and the buzzer sounded, I had my head in my hands for a few minutes and just soaked it all in. Kind of let go and felt all the emotions.”
Dempfle-Olin (pronounced DEM’-flee oh-lin) was mobbed by teammates on the shoreline after emerging from the sea at Punta de Lobos, roughly 220 kilometres southwest of Santiago, Chile.
“It still doesn’t feel real but on the jet-ski ride back into the beaches, I didn’t even believe it,” she said. “Seeing them all on the beach made it extra-special. It confirmed it.”
The Canadian ended the day with a silver medal. She was beaten 12.33-10.13 by the 27-year-old veteran Weston-Webb for gold.
“She’s an amazing surfer and on tour for years. I’ve looked up to her pretty much my whole life,” Dempfle-Olin said.
“In my semi-final, I was lucky to get the ball rolling pretty quick and get my two scoring waves pretty quickly. The final, it was a little bit harder to find them. It was a bit messier out there and the rip was also really strong, so it was super-hard to stay in position. It took me a little longer to find waves that had great potential.”
Dempfle-Olin’s Olympic qualification is provisional upon her competing in the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico.
Two Canadians would have to finish both ahead of her and among the top seven women in Puerto Rico to knock Dempfle-Olin off her Olympic berth.
That’s a tall order with more than 100 women competing for seven remaining Olympic spots, Surf Canada executive director Dom Domic said.
“I would bet the house that Sanoa has fully punched her ticket to Paris 24,” he said. “It’s literally almost assured.”
Also Monday, Shady El Nahas captured Pan American Games judo gold in the men’s 100-kilogram class.
The 25-year-old from Toronto defeated Chile’s Thomas Briceno in the final by a match-ending ippon, which is defined as either a successful throw of an opponent onto his or her back, or a pin lasting 20 seconds.
After winning a bronze medal in the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam late last week, El Nahas said he arrived in Santiago, Chile, feeling sore and injured.
“I came here and I was like ‘no injury, no time limit, no jet lag is going to stop me from winning’ and that was my goal and I’m glad I achieved it,” El Nahas said.
“I live by the code ‘dare to be great.’ I dared to be great today. I’m glad that Judo Canada got a gold medal and [also] Team Canada.”