In a new move to change nations ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Costa Rican surfing federation has just announced that the current ISA U18 World Champion, Hawaiian Brisa Hennessy, will now represent Costa Rica.

“My family and I are very excited. Being able to represent Costa Rica, the country where I was born, is a dream for me,” Brisa said, according to the federation’s website.

Meanwhile, the president of the organization, Randall Chavez, said: “We received this news in a very positive way. Being able to count on a surfer of such a high level, who is also Leilani’s teammate internationally, just as we are preparing to begin the national selection process prior to the World Open in Japan, gives us great satisfaction.”

The ISA body responsible for validating such requirements has already given its approval, the statement said.

Hennessy is currently number 10 in the QS rankings, if the tour ended now she would be qualified and according to the qualification criteria, she would most likely make it to Tokyo 2020.

Nationality changes have become the order of the day in recent months, ahead of the start of the final road to Tokyo 2020, the first Olympic Games to feature surfing. Brisa joins Tatiana Weston-Webb, another Hawaiian who moved to Brazil, Frankie Harrer, an Australian who moved to Germany, Kanoa Igarashi, an American who moved to Japan, Giorgio Gomez, an American who moved to Colombia, and so on the list goes.

The chances of qualifying, given that the quotas are limited to two men and two women per country, decrease for athletes from the most developed countries and increase for those in the developing world.