Connor O’Leary: Reluctance gives way as surfer finds it swell to be Japanese

Connor O’Leary has been one of Australia’s best surfers for a while now. He explains why he’s representing Japan at the Olympics.

Who am I?

Connor O’Leary hid his Japanese heritage as a kid. Kept it quiet from his ratbag little mates in an effort to fit in at school. He’s not masking his bloodlines any more.

O’Leary is one of Australia’s best professional surfers but last August he switched his allegiance to represent Japan at this year’s Olympics.

Copping any grief from your Australian peers on the World Surf League in his first year representing Japan? Sledged as a traitor?

“I was expecting more of a negative reaction to it,” O’Leary says with the Japanese flag on his competition shirt at the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach.

“Surprisingly there’s basically been none of that. It’s been all congratulations. Some people probably think, ‘Oh, he’s only done it because he wasn’t going to make the Australian team.’

“That’s not it. The decision was a very organic one. I made it years ago. It just so happens that the timing has come in an Olympic year. There’s been a couple of knockers but not half as many as I thought there might be.”

Australian surfer Connor O'Leary rides a wave at Teahupo'o in Tahiti, scene of the surfing event of this year’s Paris Olympic Games. Picture: Jerome Brouillet/AFP

O’Leary was raised in the Sydney suburb of Cronulla. His mother is Japanese. He was 12 when the race riots exploded.

“I kept quiet my Japanese side from everyone at school,” he says. “Nobody knew. I didn’t want to be the kid who was different. Nobody knew I could speak Japanese. Nobody knew how we lived at home. I was living in what could sometimes be a pretty harsh Australian society but mum raised me in a very Japanese-orientated house.

“I definitely put my Japan culture on the backburner for my whole schooling years. I was a shy kid. I didn’t want to be the centre of attention because I was different. I tried to act all Australian but I look back now and think that was a bit silly. You end up asking yourself, who am I? I got my answer.”

O’Leary is ranked 10th in the world. He was eliminated in round three at Bells on Wednesday in a wave-starved heat against South African Matthew McGillivary.

Connor O’Leary winning the 2019 Carve Pro at Maroubra. Picture: John Veage

“The World Surf League and the Olympics are great platforms to tell people my story,” he says. “Anyone who thinks the way I did when I was growing up, it doesn’t have to be like that. Embrace who you are. It’s such a multicultural world and Australia is such a multicultural country, and being multicultural is something to be really proud of. All I wanted to do when I was younger was fit in so I kept it quiet that I was half Japanese. You get a bit older and more mature and you realise it’s actually a fantastic thing. I’m pretty passionate about spreading that message.”

He adds: “Mum’s very, very proud. To be able to represent her, and her culture, and her values at the highest level. She’s been a wonderful mum and there’s so many positives to what I’m doing. It’s great to be bilingual. To speak it, live it, breathe it, while speaking, living and breathing the Australian culture as well. I’ve had so many messages saying, ‘I went through the same thing as you at school. It’s so cool that you’re giving this message.’ The bottom line is that multiculturalism is everywhere and we should celebrate it.”

Olympic surfing this year will be held at the feared Tahitian break of Teahupo’o. O’Leary is one of the few surfers who can tame it. Until this season, he was representing Australia on the WSL. He could very easily be standing atop the podium as the Olympic gold medallist while the Japanese flag is raised and the anthem is played.

“Awesome. I’d be so proud,” he says. “Years ago the thought of standing on the podium with the Japan flag – I thought, would that feel weird? Now it just feels so me that it doesn’t feel weird at all. This is who I am.”