Riding the wave to Paris: the amazing surfer Anat Lilior on her way to a second appearance at the Olympics

Surfer Anat Lilior (Maccabi Tel Aviv) recorded an unforgettable performance at the World Championships held in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the month. During the competition, the Israeli surfer defeated the world champions and the Olympic champion, en route to sixth place and securing her participation for the second time in a row in the Olympic Games.

“Things happened in my favor in the competition. I said thank you for everything and took advantage of the positive atmosphere and energy,” says Lilior in an interview with ‘Davar’. “At the end of the competition, many coaches came to me and told me that I was the outstanding surfer of the competition. It gave me a lot of hope for Paris.”

The Israeli surfer made history in Tokyo 2020, when she became the first Israeli in the sport to compete in the Olympic Games, where she finished in 17th place. Unfortunately, in recent years she suffered from injuries that halted her progress. “After Tokyo, I had two injuries, in the hip and in the ankle,” says Lilior. “It took me two years to get back into business. I missed a lot of competitions, but I didn’t lose hope and luckily I found the right people who are still with me today.”

“I decided to stay and make the competition unforgettable”

The World Championship in Puerto Rico was the last chance to secure the ticket to Paris in surfing. During the competition, the last eight tickets to the Olympic Games were distributed. Lilior, 23 years old, did the best preparation to arrive ready for her ‘money-time’.

“I flew two months before the competition to Puerto Rico, to get to know the place. I went to my psychologist, I was with my family. I tried to arrive in the best mental and physical state possible,” she says. “I was lucky to finally find equipment that works well for me, in surfing sometimes finding good equipment is like finding a glove that fits the hand perfectly.”

Despite the good preparation, the day before the competition the pressure gave its signals and almost made Lilior leave everything. “The day before the competition my legs were shaking, I really wanted to blow everything up and go home. We all have feelings inside that pull you in a different direction.” But precisely that challenging moment was the mental turning point on the way to the best competition of her life. “I decided to stay and make the competition unforgettable.”

Lilior passed the first two stages of the competition, but despite a great result of 11.83 points in the third stage, she finished only in fourth place and was relegated to the consolation bracket. “It’s a very difficult competition. In the heat I lost, two world champions competed. I was simply unlucky and I didn’t believe in myself as much as I should have. I felt the failure afterwards, because I was surfing at a high level.”

Following the elimination from the main draw, Lilior dropped to the fourth stage in Beit HaNihimumim. The prospect of a ticket to Paris required her to reach at least the seventh stage in the consolation house. Not an easy task, when another elimination means ending the competition.

Luckily for her, she was surrounded by the best environment for her. Her father was the head of the delegation, her little sister Noa competed with her and also her older brother and her partner came to Puerto Rico to support her. “During the competition I was surrounded by good people. A few weeks ago my older brother left Gaza and joined us. It was one of the things that really grounded me during the competition and made me feel lucky.”

Surfer Anat Lilaor (center) with her friends and family at the World Championships. “My older brother left Gaza and joined us” (Photo: ISAsurfing)

Great female athletes are measured in moments like these, when not everything goes the way they planned. Precisely after the disappointing elimination, something woke up in the Israeli surfer who returned to the competition with a sparkle in her eyes. “Only after this heat, something in me turned on. Suddenly I had the drive not only to win heats, but the entire competition.”

The Israeli surfer came back with a storm, entered the zone and won six consecutive heats, while on the way she overcomes world champions and knocks out the American Olympic champion Carissa Moore. “It was very exhausting,” she admits. “You go into automatic mode. The same warm-up, the same people you hug a few minutes before. Meditation. I had a routine where I would get up every day at 5, drink coffee, do stretches and write a lot in my journal.”

Lilior had already finished the day of the competitions, left the complex and went to rest in her room, when she received the phone call to return to the competition complex for the ticket awarding ceremony for Paris 2024. It’s so rewarding after the hard work I did in the competition. It’s a bit strange to achieve the criterion even when you’re still competing. Because you supposedly did what you came to do, but you’re still in the competition and there’s no athlete who doesn’t want to win.”

Surfer Anat Lalior at the World Championships. “I was a little unlucky with the waves that came to me” (Photo: ISA / Jersson Barboza)

After securing the ticket, Lilior continued the competition and went up to the last consolation house from which the first two go to the finals. Unfortunately, precisely at this stage the winning streak ended and she finished the heat in fourth place and ranked sixth in the World Championship.

“I won’t say I was satisfied. It’s not fun to be in sixth place and not on the podium,” Lilior admits. “But I’m happy with how I performed. I think I was a little unlucky with the waves that came to me. In the two opportunities I had, I just fell and it also happens.”

“I just came to surf”

Lilior was born and lives in Tel Aviv. From a young age she spent time together with her brother and sister at sea. “My parents told me that at the age of 5 I showed an interest in surfing and asked to surf. My father tried to teach me a little, which was less successful and then they sent me to a surfing school ‘Galim’. There my brothers and I fell in love with surfing and we used to hang out from the end of school until sunset. Mom Ours would bring us lunches and pamper all the other friends who were in the circle.”

At the age of 12, she won the Israeli championship for the first time and then made the decision that this is what she wanted to do in her life. Two years later she participated in her first international competition. “My little sister celebrated her Bat Mitzvah. Instead of doing like any normal girl, we decided that we would go to an international competition in France. There, my sister and I were exposed to international surfing and saw that we were really at the level, even challenging the international surfers.”

Anat Lilior in training for the Tokyo Olympics. “It happened surprisingly, I didn’t even know I did a criterion” (Photo: AP photo/David Goldman)

The Lilior sisters continued to compete in competitions around the world, until Anat’s big and surprising breakthrough came at the World Championship in 2019. The Israeli surfer impressed and surprised everyone when she qualified for the last 16 and subsequently received the ticket of the highest ranked European surfer in the competition.

“It happened in a very surprising way. I didn’t come to the competition with the intention of doing a criterium, I just came to surf,” Lilior recalls. “I didn’t even know I did a criterium. I was at the world championships and I just surfed my best. I finished a day of competitions, I had a continuation the next day and suddenly my father’s phone started blowing up with messages. Before I went to sleep he decided to tell me that I was going to the Olympics.”

“I left Tokyo with a sense of more”

Following the outbreak of the corona virus, the Olympic Games in Tokyo were held without an audience and created a less festive atmosphere. “Competing in Corona was strange. There was no crowd. There were fans all around, but very distant.” She finished the competition itself disappointed with an early elimination and only 17th place.

“It’s an experience that’s hard to put into words. It was fun and very isolated, but also exciting. For me to be at a surfing event with surfers that I admire. It was like it wasn’t real. I was sitting in the dressing room with two world champions and surfers competing at the highest levels and I was competing against them, a surfer from Israel that they were surprised that she even came to Tokyo. It was a very mature experience.”

Anat Lilior competes in the Tokyo Olympics. “It was a very mature experience” (Photo: AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

“I left the Olympics with a feeling of more. I didn’t feel that I was able to bring out the best, so for me this is an Olympic chapter that is not closed. I was very happy that I did the criterion once more and maybe I won’t fix the experience a bit, but I will continue to another new chapter.”

24 surfers qualified for the Olympic Games in Paris. The venue where the surfing competition will take place is in the French territory of the pastoral island of Tahiti which is far from Paris in the South Pacific Ocean. Lilior said that she will arrive at the Olympic complex on the island in the near future in order to get to know the place and the conditions in which the competition will be held better.

What are your goals for Paris?
“I really want a medal. I’m not saying I’ll do it, because nothing is certain in life. But I can say I’ll do everything I can to reach the podium.”

During the Olympic campaign Lalior enjoys the support of her association Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Olympic Committee. Together with its sponsors Altshuler Shaham, Hachleip and Rescue 1.