Slater backs surfing in Olympics

American surfer Kelly Slater. Source: GAIZKA IROZ / AFP

KELLY Slater thinks surfing as an Olympic sport is a swell idea but suspects time is running out for him to be marching for the US at an opening ceremony.

Surfing is increasingly being perceived as an attractive addition to the Olympic program in the wake of snowboardings incredible popularity at the Winter Olympics.

Slater, in Australia for the Quiksilver Pro opener of the ASP World Tour on the Gold Coast, said the surfing community is divided about the sport entering the Olympic arena but he welcomes the move and believes wave pools are surfing's way onto the Games program.

The 2024 Olympics is the major target for surfing chiefs, potentially too late for the likes of the 11-time world champion and sports greatest ever competitor.

"My window of pushing myself is closing. At some point you can get too old to care or be relevant," said Slater who will be in his 50s in 2024 but is still regarded as one of the sports greatest at 42.

"If we have the right way to run the events, like maybe a really good quality wave pool, it would be possible to run fair events at all locations in the world.

"If we get the right wave pool technology that is probably the go-to for having surfing at the Olympics. Nothing replaces nature but is could be a good supplement. "

Fernando Aguerre, president of the International Surfing Association, was at the Winter Games in Sochi pushing his sports bid for Games inclusion.

Next year the IOC will draw up a list of around 30 sports that will be considered for inclusion at the 2024 Games with a final decision on who gets in made in 2017.

"I think there are people who are headstrong for and against it," Slater told The Daily Telegraph from the Quiksilver Pro on Friday.

"We have a world tour that each year determines who is the best but as far as the Olympics go you are surfing for your country. There is national pride involved.

"It is a world sport stage. It is a different thing to be exposed o and and it would add a completely different element to the sport, pressure and criticism and all that.

"I would probably welcome it."

Slater is the defending Quiksilver Pro champion with the competition expected to kick off either Saturday or Sunday.

* The writer travelled courtesy of the ASP

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