When Connor O’Leary was growing up in Cronulla in New South Wales, Australia, the last thing he expected was to become a role model.
O’Leary was shy and insecure as a child. The son of a Japanese mother and an Australian father, he was hesitant to embrace his Japanese heritage in public for fear of being the center of attention because he was different. All he wanted to do was fit in. So, he said, he was Japanese at home and Australian everywhere else.
Now 30 years old, O’Leary, a pro surfer on the World Surf League Championship Tour, looks back with slight disappointment that he did not fully embrace his dual heritage back then. But O’Leary is full of pride about his background now. He will represent Japan in the surfing competition at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He will also ride the waves in Tahiti, where the surfing events will take place, for children of dual heritage who may harbor the same feelings of insecurity he once did.
“It's been a roller coaster, but I'm very proud of where I'm at today,” O’Leary told The Japan Times. “I hope everyone else is as well, and they can be multicultural and be proud of it.”
O’Leary was born and raised in Australia and officially switched to representing Japan last year. He had hoped to make the move earlier, in time to qualify for the Olympics through his performance on the Championship Tour, but the process took longer than expected. In the meantime, Kanoa Igarashi and Reo Inaba bagged spots on the Japanese team.
But while most nations will only have two surfers each in the male and female events at the Summer Games, Japan earned a bonus spot for the men’s competition through a qualification event in Huntington Beach, California, that Igarashi won. The Nippon Surfing Association gave the place to O’Leary in March.
“I’m stoked it all worked out at the end of last year, which is when it all kind of got confirmed,” he said. “Then the wild-card spot, I guess, was a bonus on top of that. It took a little bit longer than we thought, but we’re here now, and I’m stoked and really excited for the opportunity to embrace everything that the Olympics has to offer.”
O’Leary is a goofy-footed surfer, meaning he rides with his right foot forward. That bodes well for the Olympics, which will take place in Teahupo'o, on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, where the shallow reef and the underwater mechanics form breathtaking and sometimes dangerous waves. The waves at Teahupo'o break left, which works to a goofy-footed surfer’s advantage. In an interview with Red Bull in January, world champion Caroline Marks said: “Out of all the events on the (WSL) schedule, Teahupo'o is every goofy-footer's dream.”
“Teahupo'o is one of those waves where, if it’s big, it’s the best place to be able to challenge yourself and how hard you can push yourself,” O’Leary said. “It’s going to be the greatest platform to challenge myself and turn that fear into positive reinforcement. Take all that fear and nervous energy and turn it into a constructive mindset to be able to keep pushing and challenging myself. Because, who knows? If I push myself, I could get the best barrel of my life.”
O’Leary said it would be special to win a medal for Japan, and that those who support him in Australia would “know that I’m bringing it back for them as well.”
“My mom would probably cry,” he said.
O’Leary’s parents met during a surfing competition in Cronulla. His mother, Akemi Karasawa, was a champion pro surfer from Japan, while his father, Finbar O’Leary, was an enthusiast. O’Leary said his mother’s competitive fire — she still competes in local heats in Cronulla — and his father’s deep passion for surfing gave him a great balance during his formative years.
O’Leary said his mother, who often took him to Japan to visit family, was happy and supportive of his decision to represent Japan — as long as he was not doing it for her.
“She was really proud of the fact she didn’t influence my decision on changing,” he said. “It came naturally from me. I guess making the Olympics is a bonus, but I think she’s just happy she’s got a son that really is motivated and wants to be part of the Japanese community. You know, growing up in Australia, I could have easily just not.”
O’Leary said he shied away from his Japanese heritage in public as a child.
“I had hard times where it was definitely a little bit more challenging than others,” he said. “I never got bullied or things like that, but I guess growing up as half-Japanese, half-Australian in the Sutherland Shire in Cronulla, there weren’t too many multicultural kids and families in Cronulla at that stage. So I guess me being not overly confident and a kid, I was just pretty shy and didn’t like confrontation and things like that. I just never wanted to be in the spotlight, and I put a lot of my Japanese heritage behind me due to the fact I just didn’t want to be the center of attention. I just wanted to fit into society and cruise through school without any confrontation. So I guess outside of my house, I was in Australian culture.
“All my best friends from school used to love coming to my house, because it was very Japanese and everyone loved the food and the culture and everything. So I had a balance between school (that) was Australian, but then I could come home and it was very Japanese. As I got older, through my schooling years, I've slowly realized how cool being multicultural is, and how proud I am to be multicultural.”
He fully embraces his dual background and is focused on using his platform to spread a positive message.
“I’ve been very fortunate to live two vastly different cultures,” he said. “It’s made me the man I am today. I’ve now been doing the process of changing things and sending the message out to multicultural kids out there, especially in Australia. Australian society is very straightforward and a bit confident and black and white. So I’ve started spreading that message of being proud of being multicultural, and I’ve had a lot of great messages from people in Australia, and even around the world, saying, 'Thanks so much for telling us you went through the same things we did.'”
O’Leary got his start in the WSL on the Junior Tour in 2011. He was the Qualification Series overall winner in 2016 and earned Rookie of the Year honors on the Championship Tour in 2017. O’Leary represented Australia then and displayed an Australian flag on his uniform. In 2021, the WSL allowed him to add a Japanese flag in a nod to his dual heritage.
“I guess the flag was just a great introduction into being immersed in the Japanese culture a lot more,” he said. “I was always planning to eventually try and focus more of my nationality toward Japan. I’m very fortunate to be multicultural and be able to be there for two different fanbases.”
O’Leary is among a rising number of Japanese athletes with dual heritage, such as star pitcher Yu Darvish, tennis star Naomi Osaka and NBA player Rui Hachimura, who have all represented Japan at past Games. While he said his role is “levels below the Naomi Osakas,” he wants to make the most of his platform and send a positive message to children of dual heritage.
“I feel like there's a lot of multicultural kids out there now that are starting to do what I'm doing and what the other athletes are doing as well,” he said. "So (I’ll keep) being a role model for them if they need it, and keep spreading that message of being proud of being multicultural because you don't want to lose it and regret it when you're older. I'll keep spreading that message as much as I can.”
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