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Camilla Kemp at the World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Photo: Ricardo Arduengo / AFP
The German surfer Camilla Kemp has managed to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.
This will be the first time that an athlete from Germany will take part in the Olympic surfing competitions.
On Friday, Kemp secured his Olympic ticket at the World Surfing Championships in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
“I somehow knew that my time would come,” said the 28-year-old, according to the magazine “Wellenreiten”.
"We worked so hard for it and sacrificed so much." Her teammate Tim Elter could also qualify for the Olympics on Saturday.
Surfing is in the Olympics for only the second time this year.
At the 2021 Games in Tokyo, no athlete from the German Surfing Association (DWV) made it into the starting field.
Leon Glatzer was the only German to qualify among the men and took 17th place in the shortboard.
A 14-year-old also qualifies
Kemp, who became German surfing champion in 2023, will also compete against a 14-year-old in six months: Yang Siqi from China is already one of the 24 Olympic surfing participants after good performances at the World Championships.
The games will take place in Paris in 2024, but the surfing competitions will be held on the island of Tahiti in the overseas territory of French Polynesia.
One of the most famous and dangerous waves in the world breaks in the bay off Teahupoo.
A 14 meter high aluminum tower was to be built in the bay for the competitions.
The plans caused protests from the population and environmentalists.
Some feared that the tower for the competition judges could damage the coral reef.
After a temporary construction stop in December, the tower is now scheduled to be completed by May for a World Surf League event.
mlb/sid/Reuters