The Olympic surfing test event began today in small waves and ended at Shidashita Beach, reported several international media outlets specializing in the Olympic movement.

Reports indicate that the event also had to deal with bad weather, with rain and fog and also with a sea turtle laying eggs 10 meters from the judges' stand.

The tournament, which is being held with 40 Japanese players (20 women and 20 men, as in the Games), ends on Sunday. It offers the organising committee and the ISA a chance to inspect the site where surfing will make its Olympic debut, Insidethegames reported.

“We are dependent on Mother Nature, on natural conditions as they are,” ISA chief executive Robert Fasulo told reporters on the beach, Reuters reported.

“We are confident and part of the reason we are here in this period is to see what the conditions are like during the format. From what we have seen we are on time and the conditions are absolutely suitable,” he added.

“These are absolutely suitable conditions for a championship, if you look closely, there are very good waves being surfed,” he said.

Japanese star and former US Open champion Hiroto Ohhara explained that Shidashita has the best waves in Japan, but that today “the waves were small and with the low tide they broke quickly, which made them difficult to surf.”

The forecast shows a slight improvement for tomorrow and then remains the same size although on Saturday and Sunday the conditions tend to improve.

A big difference between this event and the Olympic one is that the latter will have eight-day waiting period and one-week contingency.

For the past three years, an “Olympic swell” has hit Chiba with force every year, caused by cyclones that become more common in late July.

The ISA has already confirmed on several occasions that the event will not be held in a swimming pool. The organizers of Paris 2024 have expressed the same opinion, as they have assured that they will not hold the surfing event in wave pools.