LOCAL SURFER APPOINTED TO PROGRESS BRITISH OLYMPIC SURFING
Arlene Maltman, a former British and European surfing champion, has been appointed as one of the directors of British Surfing, the organisation formed to help Great Britain’s surfing elite reach the summer Olympics in 2020 in Japan.
In 2016 the member nations of the Olympic Movement voted in favour of the inclusion of the sport of Surfing in the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020. Surfing was one of five new sports to be included and provides a platform for British surfing to excel on the world stage.
Local surfers from the Channel Islands will be eligible for inclusion on Team GB but must qualify through a series of events which will likely include the British National Championships to be held at St Ouen’s Bay this May.
British Surfing as an organisation has been recognised by the British Olympic Association and the International Surfing Association and has been formed specifically to develop elite performances, selection, preparation and management of a British Surfing team. The board of directors will now embark on a journey to build an effective strategy and development plan that will prepare British athletes for the world stage in readiness for the Olympic Games 2020.
As a new entrant to the Olympic games, surfing has been allocated £192,500 from UK Sport’s £3 million Aspiration Fund to help assemble a British Surfing Olympic team.
Arlene and her fellow directors from the other three UK surfing federations, Scotland, England and Wales, will be responsible for managing the fund and overseeing the athlete selection process.
David Ferguson is President of the Channel Island Surfing Federation and has been instrumental in the formation of British Surfing, he said,
“Arlene has been involved in surfing for over 40 years and brings an enormous amount of experience and insight to the board. She is well poised to help look after Channel Island surfing interest within UK sport as surfing prepares for it’s debut in the Olympic Games in 2020.”
Arlene is a 3 time British Team Member and has competed at 3 World Championships, she said after her appointment,
“I’m looking forward to being a part of Britain’s quest to send our best athletes to the Olympic Games in 2020.
As a former competitor, I can only imagine how excited surfers must feel with the prospect of competing on the ultimate world stage. The sport of surfing has come a long way. I’m really hoping this news will give local Channel Island surfing a boost.
These are exciting times and a lot of work has been done behind the scenes to get where we are. There’s a lot of work to be done going forward in terms of fulfilling the criteria around the Aspiration Fund.
From a local perspective, if all goes well in the long term, we could see the inclusion of local surfers on Team GB at future Olympic games: France in 2024 and potentially Los Angeles in 2028. These are achievable goals for our local talent pool; it’s entirely possible with continued support from the CISF that we will have representatives from the Jersey and the Channel Island’s at future games”.