Tommy Gibney has been working hard for some years. He wants the U.S. Virgin Islands to become a part of the Olympic Games in surfing. This coming weekend, he won’t be alone in his efforts. The U.S. Virgin Islands team will compete in the International Surfing Association’s 2024 ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico.
Tommy Gibney is 27 years old and he is from St. John. Two more surfers from St. Thomas — Cody Merritt, 26, and Ocean Petersen, 39 — will join him. Together, they make a team of three men for this important competition. It is the final chance to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The World Surfing Games will start on Saturday and finish on Sunday, March 3. The competition will take place in Puerto Rico, on the north side of the island. Gibney shared that the conditions there are similar to what they have at home in the Virgin Islands.
There are two ways the Virgin Islands surfers could get a chance to compete at the Olympics. One way is winning the team championship at the World Surfing Games. The winning team then picks who will represent them in Tahiti for the Paris Olympics. The other way is something called “universality allocation,” where the International Olympic Committee’s Tripartite Commission chooses a surfer.
For now, Tommy Gibney, Cody Merritt, and Ocean Petersen are focused on preparing best they can. They know that in surfing a lot depends on the ocean and on making the right choices. Their goal is to stay calm and not feel too much pressure as they compete.
