"Global home of surfing" under siege!
The business of international sport is… weird. I get a peanut gallery view over the various two-steps between major brands like Visa, Coca-Cola, Ford, Bailey Ladders and “governing bodies” ruling over who is, and isn’t, allowed to compete in the Olympics and, let me tell you, clunkiness is generally the vibe.
Clunkiness and a balky four-year shimmy to make good while the world’s eyes are watching.
Now, of course, core participants in our extreme world have always been rightfully dubious about the Olympics. Snowboard legend Terje Haakonsen, who famously boycotted his frozen water dance’s 1998 entry into “The Games” declaring nearly 30 years later:
I can’t believe people are still asking me why I boycotted the Olympics in ’98. Seriously? I’ve answered that question a thousand times.
I decided my opinion about the Olympics before snowboarding was sanctioned. I was asked by MTV Sports to go to the Lillehammer Games in ’94, but I already saw then what bullshit the Olympics were. I don’t regret anything.
The only person that didn’t really understand at the time was my Dad. Of course, he’s from the older generation and had been brought up to see the Olympics as the pinnacle. But for me it’s too much to swallow for one event. Even now, today, all the stuff the IOC demands – from nations, sponsors, athletes – it’s insane.
Most of the stuff is out there and is easy to find out about. Yet people still support it. Why? Because they think it’s what they need to do for money and fast fame. Even if that’s only going to happen to maybe one or two guys every fourth year. And let’s not forget: they stole snowboarding from us.
“They” being skiing.
Which, as it so happens, enters our surfing chat once again.
A hot rumor is suggesting former World Surf League CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, who didn’t get ruthlessly fired for… shenanigans… in Brazil but left her post very quickly is looking to snag the “governing body of surfing” role and slot it amongst her ski and snowboard holdings.
As you should know, Goldschmidt is the “dynamic, global leader with broad and deep proven experience in sports, entertainment, media and technology” currently leading US Ski and Snowboard.
The “snowboard” portion of that hated and hated and hated by core folk.
Like surfing being ruled by SUP.
Yuck.
Some historical backdrop, in any case. U.S. Surfing lost its Olympic charter a handful of months back, all being reverted to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) which does not want it and is looking to hand off.
Goldschmidt, whispers declare, has her hand up wanting to take it. What’s more, she is, allegedly, trying to sort a way where the World Surf League will not be involved in the qualification process whatsoever. As it now happens, the top two World Surf League Championship Tour surfers from each country get an Olympic bid as long as they pretend to surf in International Surfing Association events.
Surfing, in its perpetual puppy dog posture of needing attention, has no Terjes and will likely lap up whatever but how do you feel about ski and snowboard ruling surfing too?
Better than the cursed “global home of surfing?”
Certainly more questions than answers.
Unless you have some of the latter.
well it’s only seppo, sorry I mean US, surfing not the whole world of surfing so we’ll probably survive. sorry for you yanks though – no-one deserves to be taken over by seppo skiing.
It’s the same bullshit the USASA faced when Snowboarding became an Olympic Sport. People that are truly in it for the kids and the sport spent decades putting on underfunded competitions and sending teams around the world to compete and then USA Skiing takes it over and grabs the glory of fielding a team for the Olympics every four years. USA Surfing still fields the junior, longboard, adaptive and SUP teams to ISA events but the USOPC took the Olympic Team. They only give money to their corrupt cronies and USA Ski and Snowboard are one of their biggest moneymakers and medal count contributors. Snowboarding events are the most watched event at the winter Olympics. Surfing and Skateboarding were some of the most watched. USA Surfing was 4th in social media engagement out of all the 2020 Olympic sports. They always screw the grassroots national governing bodies. I should write a book . . .
Flatwater paddle foil racing. 😁
They need to add cross country snowboarding, too.
Whitewater river SUP is pretty fun. But it’s a sport unto itself that doesn’t compete with the others.
One way to think about it is, anything to undermine the WSL’s takeover of surfing worldwide, might be a good thing.
The ex-CEO of the WSL isn’t the person to do it, though.
But if the Olympics will have surfing, then why is the WSL even involved other than to try to give themselves credibility as the owner of all surfing? That’s a load of shit. Surfing was a big part of our lives before the WSL existed, and it will be when the WSL, like its predecessor organizations, is history.
Whether the Olympics are good for surfing (or other board sports) is a tough question. I’m a native of Huntington Beach and I also taught snowboarding for 4 years. I currently spend most of my time in Boise, where the city, after two decades of resistance, built a pro-contest-quality skate park downtown, with the help of private donors big and small, as well as a standing wave surf park, both free to use. We’re fortunate that our local ski hill, which is pretty big and very convenient to locals, allowed snowboards early on, but this wasn’t the norm.
Once, surfers, skaters, and snowboarders were seen as little better than common criminals, even in Huntington Beach, now “Surf City.”
Skaters were arrested. Surfers were banned on stretches of beach without a second thought. Most resorts didn’t allow snowboarding.
And as much as snowboarders like to imagine themselves as backcountry shredders, 99.99% of the few who actually are, worked their way up from the bunny hill to the double blacks using resort lifts, before even thinking about a split board and avalanche classes. And despite the occasional backyard terrain park, 99.99% of the park kids just go to the local resort.
So, there’s something to be said for “legitimacy” even if, deep down, it makes this old punk rocker puke a little every time.
But then, the WSL and the Olympics desperately try to put surfing in a box and pretend that’s all it is. Meanwhile, the actual world of surfing is full of people with boards, styles, and attitudes that have no connection at all to what we’re sold as pro surfing, which is a job, or to pro surfers trying to catch the fleeting chance to get paid for riding waves.
Is almost enough to make one long for the days when you’d get arrested for going to Trestles. At least there weren’t such f*cking crowds.
Oh wait. That was 2020.
I’m curious why US Surfing lost their Olympic charter? Time for some Surf Journalism!
Because the USOPC didn’t want to fund the athlete development, Juniors, Longboard, SUP and Adaptive Teams and instead heaped tons of administrative bs onto them. Then after USA Surfing had a exemplary first Olympics, they claimed they were deficient in parts of their audit so were moving to decertify and not pay out their expenses incurred during the Olympics. The board of USA Surfing voted to voluntarily decertify so USOPC would pay the Tokyo Olympics bills they had promised. They wanted to take over US Olympic Surfing because it is only 4 people once every four years with great medal potential. They didn’t want to deal with the rest. Same thing they did to USASA for snowboarding and USA Skateboarding. USA Skateboarding had real issues with non-compliance. USA Surfing had resolved any and all issues.
Love the deep insider info!!
US Skiing under Sophie continues to under-perform save for Mikaela Shiffrin who isn’t a product of the US Skiing machine. Mikaela is a product of Eileen and Jeff(RIP) Shriffrin and she is an outlier whose coattails Sophie and the minions at US Skiing leverage for fundraising. Now for a quick look at the men’s alpine team nets a team in shambles that has further digressed during Sophie’s tenure.
So in an effort to match her faux college tennis career she is doing her best to ruin US Skiing.
EDIT- AJ Hurt crushed it with a 3rd place in today’s GS. GO GIRL!
As for US Snowboarding, who cares!
Sophie can take her Goldenslipper elsewhere, preferably where the sun don’t shine
Sophie could definitely make the case that the WSL qualified Felipe “not so good at Teahupoo” Toledo, and didn’t qualify one of the greatest competitive Teahupoo surfers of all time, Gabe Medina.
idk, Sophie returning to surfing in any capacity just seems like a dog returning to its vomit
Sure they can cut the WSL out of the loop for olympic qualifying spots but the WSL have their “must not compete in unaccredited events” trump card. So you’d end up with an olympics full of second rate surfers. I wonder if any non surfing audience would know or care.
If I were ISA I’d offer dirk one dollar to buy the whole show.
Funny comment about SUPs, surfing australia and kayak australia (i think it is) have been battling it out for who gets to hold SUP events.
canoe, the international canoe federation vs the ISA
Awesome, I’m looking for another sports administration body to hate!
She obviously knows all about how bodgy and backyard the wosl actually is.
Heck, how many times did she have to stand onstage with Lindy, Axel and uncle Bruce for instance.
Let alone all the various ‘behind the scenes scenes’ she would’ve seen with employees, competitors and hangers-on. so will understand how they operate and know what shit to pull on them if/when deals are signed.
And considering how poorly the wosl have been running their show lately any change might be a positive.
Sounds hilarious really…
Terje is a legend. Let’s hear what Brushie has to say about the Games.
Hopefully we will look back on this silly time in surf/skate/snow and chuckle wondering how and why Surf and Skate didn’t learn anything from what the Olympics did to snowboarding and its culture/industry (there is only ski industry). Maybe if we repent and turn from our stupid greedy ways we can show the Loggers that there is nothing good on that side of the fence and get them to pull out of the 2028 LA (malibu). As good of a fit as that is it will only grow the worst VAL influx since covid and yank the core out of traditional surfing altogether. Let them have SUP, Foil, and Boogie. Leave our surfing allow. You too energy drinks!
It’s almost as if Sophie and Dirk hatched up this plan while sitting on adjoining shitters in the WSL HQ unisex bathroom.
To be sensitively accurate, it’s a “gender neutral” bathroom. Which will be an appreciated touch by the city of Santa Monica once the WSL leases the building as a methadone clinic.
Wait. Is she proposing to depose the our Surfing Clown, Fernando? Where will he wear his colorful coats if not at IOC banquets and while blowing IOC committee members? So much to learn.
Hasn’t she damaged surfing enough? Can she please fuck off back to rugby Union or tennis or whatever shit she was at before Ziff turned up
How quickly you forget. She ran the fucking tennis tour. Literally, the fucking tennis tour. She was the leader we deserved.
Nostradamus had nothing on Bobby Martinez
“Is there anything we can do to hasten the downfall of the WSL?”
-Common IRL Surfer and friends
You really think clown Fernando gonna let surfing be stolen from him ?
It’ll be all out war …. and as for the wooz, well they and their World Champions are fast becoming irrelevant, so who cares?
Did they catch crabs?
Course they did, matey !
Brings back many old memories for me … all the fuckups, near misses, stupid shit that you shouldn’t do and know not to but judgement can get weird when sleep deprived.
At least those guys are still getting paid ok.
This ain’t international nonsense, which Fernando has firm grasp upon. This is US specific.
Oh – well, hell I’m only an internet technician wielding the wrong end of the stick again. I’ll leave this horse to die by someone else’s blows.
Got anything else I can get ticked off with?
What would that change look like then. Griff get access to more trampolines?
Sophie might be leveraging her Board member Eric Resnick and his connection to Greg Maffei to push the surfing media opportunity…one never knows.
I have no idea what is happening.
Xox