“Tyler has been advised by her doctors and
specialists that she needs treatment.”
The two-time world surfing champ Tyler Wright was a notable
scratching from the Viva Oi Rio Pro, currently being played out
in abominable conditions in Brazil.
Thirty-year-old Tyler Wright, who pretty much gave up any hope
of making the final five cut with her latest withdrawal, has a long
history of illness and injury.
Four months ago after advancing to the quarter finals in
Portugal, Wright spoke of suffering from what was described as a
perpetual suffocation.
“I’ve had a fair few doctors and specialists tell me they don’t
know how I do what I do. I found out that most of the time I’m
under-oxygenated and semi-suffocating. My airways are too small
basically, and over the off-season I had it expanded,” Wright
explained. “Honestly it’s been life-changing, it’s the sanest I’ve
ever felt. It’s really successful, it’s changing my life, but it’s
also a process and that’s only step one and a half of a multi-step
process.”
The process included seven screws drilled into her
head.
“So through the off-season I got a maxillary palatal expander [a
device that widens the mouth] in. Essentially I’ve got seven screws
in my head, between nine and 17 millimetres [in length] and in the
off-season I expanded it. Essentially it popped the bone and I got
seven millimetres [added airway space] through that.”
In 2018, Tyler and her brother Owen, then the world number
eleven, quietly pulled out of their respective events at Jeffreys
Bay.
Both cited a mysterious “African flu”.
“Never thought the flu would stop me from competing….turns out I
was very wrong.,” Tyler wrote on Instagram. “Influenza A is quite
the catch, it wouldn’t leave me alone. Been out of it for a while
now but had my first good day in about two weeks, still can’t do
much and I’m about 8kg lighter.”
Last year, Wright unleashed on the
“drastic and extreme circumstances” she was raised in” from the
Wright’s patriarch Rob, the old boy now on the ropes, suffering
from dementia and being cared for by her big brother
Owen.
“I experienced that and I worked with a psychologist for years
to understand my relationship with surfing and understand how that
was born, how it was really unhealthy for me,” Wright told Dave
Prodan on his usually milquetoast podcast The Lineup. “I’m
rebuilding a relationship with surfing because of the drastic and
extreme circumstances that I was raised in…Look, this is not
uncommon. Which is baffling for someone like me. If this is not
uncommon, why don’t we have better solutions, better parenting
programs, better informed industry? I’m not the first child this
has happened to. I’m not the first child star this has happened
to.”
That same year, her performance at
the Surf Ranch event was diminished after a “horrible period” put
her in hospital for three days prior to the
event.
“At times it’s deflating physically and emotionally, feeling
like you have no say in it. Managing my period has been a journey.
I’ve come along way from my teen years, not even knowing it wasn’t
normal to suffer monthly excruciating pain that would lead to
passing out, vomiting and hours on the toilet. These days my period
management looks like a customised training program based around
the 4 menstrual stages, listening and planning carefully for what
my body needs – even if that means less time practicing in the
water before comps, prioritising sleep and recovery leading up to
my period and being aware this is the time I am at highest risk of
injury.”
Wright, who won her first big event at fourteen and two
consecutive world titles at twenty-two and twenty-three, has also
revealed the struggle of being gay on the surf circuit,
“I’m the only queer person on tour, so my wife is the only other
queer person I know most of the time. I love everyone around me but
she makes such a difference in a way only she really can.”
According to a spokesperson for Tyler Wright, the latest
scratching comes at the advice of medical professionals.
“Tyler has been advised by her doctors and specialists that she
needs some treatment and would prefer her sitting out Brazil. Tyler
will be 100% ready for the Olympics.”
Still, Surfing Australia has readied evergreen Sally Fitzgibbons
to be on standby should Wright’s medical woes continue and, in the
men, Ryan Callinan if either Ethan Ewing or Jack Robinson get
belted and can’t compete.
“We have Sally Fitzgibbons and Ryan Callinan on standby with a
fully flexible flight booked to arrive 24 hours prior to the event
window,” Surfing Australia’s performance
support and podium manager Eric Haakonssen told The Guardian.
“If the event looks likely to start later in the window, we will
adjust those flights to depart later just in case.”