Para Surfing Champ Pleads With LA Olympic Committee to Include Para Surfing in 2028 Games

It’s 5:18 a.m. on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii and Victoria Feige is up to wax on about broken dreams.

A couple of years ago, she left her life and job as a physiotherapist in Vancouver, Canada to pursue a goal of winning Gold for Team Canada at the LA28 Paralympics.

“I changed my whole life to become the best surfer I can be and to push the limits of my body,” says Victoria, an adaptive surf legend with five World Titles in the women’s kneel division.

The dual American-Canadian citizen ditched the wetsuit, flew to Honolulu, scored a place to live on the North Shore, made connections in the local Para surf community and got to work.

“I’m surfing barrels and doing turns and have more contest wins than anyone male or female," she says. "That’s crazy, but it’s also the truth. I put energy into my diet, fitness, recovery, sport science and coaching.”

Donning the red and white Team Canada athlete kit at the LA28 Paralympics was in her sights and her four-year plan. “All the signs pointed to yes,” she says, going on to list why:

Surfing is the state sport of California.

The last ISA Worlds was held at Huntington Beach in Nov. 2023, which many perceived as a trial run for the Games.

LA28 even started to use surf iconography in their Olympic and Paralympic marketing.

“I changed my whole life to become the best surfer I can be and to push the limits of my body."

On the surface, it seemed Para surfing was a shoo-in sport to be included at the LA28 — until the other shoe dropped. In mid-June, Victoria and the Para surf community received the crushing news that their sport was passed over by the LA28 organizing committee due to “cost and complexity”.

“The understanding is that most Para sports are indoor sports with a controlled environment that require little to no set-up or teardown and little to no staff,” Victoria explains. “Like the rock climbing wall, they can set up for the Olympics and they can have security in there, or not, and just leave it up. It requires no judging, it’s a time clock. You climb to the top, you ring the bell and that’s that. But surfing, because it’s outdoors in the ocean, requires beach permits and beach scaffolding and event signage… it would have been a more involved process.”

Like a true champion, Victoria expressed compassion for the event organizers before diving into solutions. “I can see from their perspective in terms of cost. If they’re setting up the scaffolding for Olympic surfing and they have to take it down for two weeks, tearing it down and setting it up again seems wasteful.”

One of their main recommendations to avoid teardown is to run Para surfing directly after the Olympics at the same venue.

“There are precedents of other sports going before the Opening Ceremonies because of scheduling,” she notes, suggesting they run the Para surfing during the lay days of the Olympic surfing contest.

“The challenge is that if we’re not in good waves, we can’t showcase what we can do, but if we don’t ever get a chance to get there we don’t get a chance to show people what we can do," she says. "All of us would love to have that option versus not being included at all.”

She united with fellow dreamer and adaptive surfer Josh Bogle to create a petition calling for Para surfing to be included in the LA28 Games.

“It’s easy to think that Paralympic sports aren’t quite as legit as the real thing, but we are training just as hard as Olympic athletes," says Victoria. "We are just asking for a chance to showcase our strength and skill on the largest stage.”

Victoria pointed out that the Russian Paralympic Committee overturned a rejected proposal to include Para snowboarding cross-standing in the 2014 Sochi Paralympics after a petition garnered 1,507 supporters.

“We recognize that cost is a real consideration, but give us a chance to work together. If we can problem-solve our disabilities in the ocean and navigate currents, we can find a way to work together to make it feasible,” Victoria begs.

"The challenge is that if we’re not in good waves, we can’t showcase what we can do, but if we don’t ever get a chance to get there we don’t get a chance to show people what we can do,"

On July 4, Victoria joined the 44th annual Da Hui Paddle Race from Sunset Beach to Waimea Bay. “I didn’t have a paddleboard or a canoe, so I just did it on my shortboard," she says. "It’s a really beautiful community event. Really good vibes. Kelly Slater was there and Jack Johnson and I thought, I have to at least ask for their help.”

Kelly and Jack both agreed to take part in a video supporting the petition, which blew up on social media. The petition has since garnered worldwide support with 7,142 signatures and counting.

Para surfing is a growing sport with about 500 athletes and 28 Nations competing at an international stage. Victoria is currently working on sending the LA28 organizing committee a formal letter of request and if anyone wants to help, drop her a line at: victoriafeige@gmail.com.

Related: New Petition Calls for Inclusion of Para Surfing in 2028 Paralympic Games