The qualifying process for past Olympic Games has had some ridiculous, even ludicrous, moments, I would say.

That World Surfing Games in 2022 in Huntington Beach, where it seemed like nobody noticed they'd won an extra slot for both men and women. Brazil, at one of the best moments in its history, finished sixth overall, fourth in the men's competition, and 13th in the women's. Japan secured the extra slot for the men's (unbelievable).

Or the one in 2024 in Puerto Rico, where nobody realized they would be the ones establishing the seeding for Paris 2024, and then everyone looked at each other with strange faces in Teahupoo because they didn't understand the match they were assigned and the vast majority had let themselves lose.

O Ketut Agus finishing third by 10,13, looking for a wave to pass when what he needed was to add 0,6 more to finish better than Manuel Selman and thus qualify for Tokyo 2020, O Teva Bochgua, needing to finish third to pass the quality system and qualify for Africa to Paris 2024 and being left out of Paris 2024 (later giving the qualification to Alan Cleland).

That's surfing for you. Sad. Completely misinformed coaches who, due to ignorance of the rules, end up paying dearly for their mistakes.

Giant mistakes.

But hey, third time's the charm, let's see if they understand this time and don't jeopardize the surfing well-being of their country.

Then they insult without knowing.

The ranking hierarchy for a Pan American surfer is:

1: CT
2: ISA WSG
3: Lima 2027

The maximum is three surfers per country, and those three events qualify for LA 2028. They are the top three in the hierarchy, ahead of the team slots for the 2026 and 2027 WSG.

And to go to Lima 2027 with two surfers, I absolutely have to go to the Pan American Games. I get a double slot by winning the Pan American Surf Games in 2026 or by finishing in the top 4 in 2027.

Only one is obtained through the World Surfing Games (where the CTs are expected to compete).

So, it would be smart to aim for qualification for Lima 2027 and for the powerhouses to get two surfers in, right?

Will Brazil and the United States understand this? Will they invest heavily in the Pan American surfing championships? They definitely should.

And it would be great to see this very special event, with all these fierce competitors taking part in it and fighting tooth and nail for the qualification.

Let's review. Two athletes per country will travel to Lima 2027 if they achieve these five results:
- Gold Medal Shortboard at PASA Games 2027
- Gold Medal Shortboard at PASA Games 2026
- Silver Medal Shortboard at PASA Games 2027
- Shortboard Bronze Medals at PASA Games 2027 (in case of no Man to Man rounds at PASA Games 2027, the benefit will be awarded to the Bronze medal winner and the Copper medal winner).

And another athlete qualified through regular channels (WSG, PASA 26, PASA 27, South Americans, Central Americans, ALAS).

It seems important to think that someone needs to be telling the United States that going to the PASA doubles their chances of reaching Lima 2027 and playing for a spot in LA 2028.

Yes, it's true that the other option is to win the WSG 26 or 27 by gender. Which seems like a much more difficult bet.

It will be interesting to see what happens. But I really hope they don't make the same mistakes again in their strategy implementation due to a lack of understanding of the rules.