Who will the fates smile upon?
Now, I’m going to be honest with you here, this whole Olympic qualification thing confuses me. I know it shouldn’t, I know that the top two surfers on the World Surf League Championship Tour, per nation, get to go and that Japan has one bonus slot and then the surfers also have compete in the ISA Pyramid Scheme Games but… I’m still confused.
Like, are there only going to be ten surfers competing at the Olympics including one bonus Japanese?
The only nations I can think with surfers are Brazil, France, Australia, South Africa and the United States of America. I guess Portugal too. New Zealand? So fourteen surfers plus one bonus Japanese?
Also, when does the qualification lock in? I assumed after next year’s World Surf League Championship Tour but it will not even be half done when the Olympics swing in to Tokyo plus a comprehensive interview with John John Florence in ESPN today makes me think that it’s this year’s rankings. Would you like to read with me then clarify?
Thanks.
ESPN: How much did the Olympic qualifying weigh on that decision?
JJF: Luckily enough, I had a lot of points from doing well in the beginning of the season, so I still have a good shot at qualifying through the tour for the Olympics — and that is my dream. It would be so awesome to go to the Olympics. But I don’t have much control over that right now. I have to sit back and see what Kelly [Slater] can do.
ESPN: Why is qualifying for the U.S. Olympic surfing team important to you?
JJF: It’s the Olympics, the top of sporting, and being a part of it would be awesome. I think it would be so cool to have a Hawaiian on the team. And since it’s the first year in the Olympics for surfing, I imagine there is going to be a lot of conversation about how it can be better next time, and I would love to be involved in that conversation. To be part of the first one and growing our sport in the Olympics would be cool.
ESPN: You recently posted a video on Instagram showing you back in the water, prone paddling, with the hashtag #Tokyo2020, and it caused a lot of excitement. Why the hashtag?
JJF: I thought it was a fun one. And there is a lot of truth in it. It is still a goal of mine to qualify for the Olympics, and I wanted to let people know I am working toward that. It is my goal to get better for Pipeline in case I have to come back and compete and gain points. That is a short-term goal. And if Kelly doesn’t gain enough points the rest of the year, it is a long-term goal to be 150 percent ready at the start of the next WCT season and have ample time to train for the Olympics next year.
I still don’t get it. But more importantly, it feels like one of the greatest subplots during the rest of the 2019 season will be 48-year-old Kelly Slater vs. the specter of John John Florence for that final Olympic slot. Now, do you think it is bad sportsmanship for Kelly to try and steal qualification from a cripple? Does this story-within-a-story change your cheering interests?
Are you Team John John or Team Kelly?
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WTF Olympic is for amateurs and not professional? But love Kelly and JJF 🙂 I personally wish surfing never went main stream. For the 1% it is a lifestyle and the other 99% it is a sport. 🙂 Wish them both well 😉
Thanks for the insight. Going Elbow Cay in Bahamas for 5 days. We’ll see…
Thought I was reading The old man and the sea for a minute
I’m more interested on how potential Olympic commentators qualify?
I thought surfers were well traveled. How can someone who writes for a surf magazine be so ignorant about surfing nations? Japan is a surf nation surrounded by oceans, and most spots get super crowded. Italy is also surrounded by ocean and becoming a surf nation with one of their own in the CT. Spain has tones of surfers with an Atlantic coast and Mediterranean coast and one of the best right in the world. The UK has tones of surfers as well, with pros like Russel Winter and Carwin Williams as past pros on the CT. Seriously… Beach Grit needs to raise its standards. This is youtube retarded comments level!
Put Chas in the booth
Then the coffee table pottz to go.
action starts in 45 minutes. place your bets, get the vodka, shot every Turpel says “89 world champ”.
Kelly’s surfer brain has no room in it for “does not need this.”
right — first or second in top ten of the rankings. Top 10 all get in, max of two per country.
Per my reading of the ISA Olympic Eligibility Requirements, a qualifying surfer must make himself or herself available for the 2019 AND the 2020 ISA World Surfing Games. The 2020 event site still TBD.
Here’s the rabbit hole from hell:
https://www.isasurf.org/wp-…
Has that lovable , cheeky self confidence ……that sparkle in the eyes
We should all make a pact to bash Olympic hopefuls in surfing here now and forever.
Don’t worry… fate has already smiled upon them both. As to whom will go to the Olympics – who fukn gives a shit? No one who’s opinion counts that’s for sure. Fuk ‘em. Seriously. If they even gave a shit, I’d be surprised.
Tortola is very fickle, learned that on my honeymoon, stone flat for 2 weeks.
It’s a terrible shame that other nations , rich in resources , did not follow a similar path …… I think I have a passport for one of them ?
Aren’t Norway fighting the fighters for the bight?
I never said they were perfect like our own wonderful user pay nation .
Terje Haakonsen much?
Hadn’t thought about that, but you’re right !
By Jebus, why not?
Negs ain’t the spring chicken he once was.
I think he must be taking advice from Dozza …
Still think olympic surfing is tailor made for a pool event, perfect for tv, even playing field, crowd involvement. Something the punters can comprehend. A beachie comp. is not going to cut through to the non surfing viewer, even if it’s cranking which is against the odds, and isn’t that the whole point of it? I can see the whole thing barely getting a look in with the tv producers deciding what to show their audience. Maybe the highlights will get screened but who would want to go live to watch guys paddling around chasing scraps or sitting there waiting for waves. I don’t snow ski (never even seen snow) but I am glued to the half pipe comp. at the winter olympics, only time I ever watch it, but I look for it because it’s spectacular, contained ,even playing field and the competitors go one after another. Even I can sit there and compare their rides .For it to work at the olympics it has to be a pool, so I’m sort of hoping this one is a clusterfuck with shit waves and that makes them change direction. Duke was a surfer, but he was also a pool guy, I don’t think it would be shitting on his dream.
I’m shocked you’ve forgotten so quickly, T.
This is NZ mate, you don’t get what you choose.
We’ll get given a trisexual named Clitoris with a bald head and a clip on man bun.
It’s claim to fame will be she’s the niece of Jason Gunns sister and once bought a pie from the Wainui store.
On reflection, she/it is representative of most line-ups in NZ and therefore appropriate.
Is that the new decree from Jacinta?
Jacinda
There’s no wind it’s 3foot
At least 5good banks up down the beach
The Manly Fairy waved its wand ….. again . Queen or Steyne man ?