Alan Cleland Quiñonez, the first Mexican surfer to qualify for the Olympics, is one of eight men to advance to round three of the surfing competitions at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
The venue is Teahupo’o in Tahiti, French Polynesia, home to some of the most dangerous waves in the world, with “death-defying” heights up to 50 feet, according to The New York Times.
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The Mexican surfer advanced to round three after defeating Spanish surfer Andy Criere in round two on Sunday. Cleland will compete in round three on Monday at 12:48 p.m. Mexico City time, up against French surfer Joan Duru.
Who is Alan Cleland?
Alan Cleland, 22, was born to an Irish father and a Mexican mother in Boca de Pascuales, a remote fisherman’s village in Colima, on the Pacific Coast. His father, a free surfer, pushed Cleland into the sport when he was two years old.
Cleland has said that he does not remember his first time in the water, but that he remembers surfing frequently with his father after he turned four. By age six, Cleland was surfing by himself or with friends.
According to Cleland, people living in Boca de Pascuales were either surfers or fishermen. Thanks to that environment, he is now an Olympic athlete.
“For me, representing Mexico is just representing where I’m from,” he told Olympics.com. “I wouldn’t be the same person […] if it wasn’t for the place, the wave, my family and everything in general about where I grew up.”
Cleland secured his Olympic spot in June 2023, after winning the World Surf League Championship Tour in El Salvador. He rode three of the top 10 highest-scoring waves of the competition and won the championship with the highest score among men and women, with 9.73 points.
With that victory, Cleland became the second Mexican man to win the World Surfing Games, after Oaxacan Jhony Corzo in 2017.
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In an interview with the news magazine Proceso, Cleland said that “by participating [in the] Paris [games], I want more people to see surfing for the beautiful [sport] that it is, to take it seriously […] and to understand that it is not for hippies. It is a high-performance sport.”
Today, Cleland is the only Mexican in the surfing competition at the Olympics.
When did surfing become an Olympic sport?
Surfing became an Olympic sport at the 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021, with events held at Tsurigasaki Beach in Japan.
It is the only Olympic sport that depends entirely on the weather. During the Olympic competitions, forecasters assess the likely surf conditions throughout each day to determine the most suitable time for competition.
You can watch Cleland compete from Mexico by tuning into Claro Sports on YouTube.
With reports from Milenio and The New York Times
