Connor O'Leary (born 12 October 1993, in

Cronulla, New South Wales Cronulla is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Boasting numerous surf beaches and swimming spots, the suburb attracts both tourists and Greater Sydney residents. Cronulla is 26 kilometres south of the Sydney central ...

) is an Australian-Japanese professional surfer.

Early life

Pro surfer Connor O’Leary was born in Cronulla, a suburb of Sydney, to an Irish-Australian father and a former Japanese surfing champion mother.

Surfing career

Despite a few wins during his junior career, O'Leary was never considered one of the most promising names of his generation, but that didn't stop him from trying his luck in the most competitive arena of professional surfing. In 2015 he competed in the QS full-time for the first time and arrived in Hawaii inside the qualifying bubble, narrowly missing out on his place in the last two stops. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

he took a win in the QS 10,000 in Ballito and other solid results in stops with the same scores to become the 2016 Qualifying Series champion. Connor made his CT debut in the 2017 season, reaching his first CT final at the Fiji Pro, but losing to Australian Matt Wilkinson. He finished the season in 13th place, winning the Rookie of the Year award. In the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

season, Connor did not perform as well and did not requalify for the 2019 CT. In the 2019 QS, he finished 9th and qualified for the next year's CT. After the

Covid-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic, Connor returned in the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

season and again failed to reclassify. In the same year, he competed in the Challenger Series, won the Quiksilver Pro France stage, finished 4th in the Ranking and returned to the CT. Connor had the best season of his career on the CT in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, when he finished 9th in the Ranking, remaining on the CT for the next season.

Change of nationality

In 2023, Connor made a decision that changed his life in surfing. Since 2021, because of his Japanese origin, he had already been wearing the Australian and Japanese flags on his Lycra, but in August 2023 he officially changed to represent Japan, approved by the International Surfing Association (ISA). The change was to be a new face and highlight for the new generation of Japanese surfing and to guarantee Olympic qualification representing Japan at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In 2024, Connor made his first Olympic appearance when he competed in the Paris Olympics, representing

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He made it as far as Round 3, when he was eliminated by Australian Ethan Ewing. He finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

on the CT in 16th place, requalifying for the next season.

Career victories

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:OLeary, Connor 1993 births Living people Australian surfers Japanese surfers World Surf League surfers 21st-century Australian sportsmen Surfers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic surfers for Japan