"Foot-to-the-floor breathing chamber raining monster chandos or peewee stall drag for a bit of extra Vishnu. Not even close in my book.”
One month after busting a titty in a small-wave wave wipeout and withdrawing from the tour, Gabriel Medina, three times a world champion, has taken to Instagram to pass judgement on the confected imbroglio shading the result of the Lexus Pipe Pro.
Italian surf fans very unhappy, y’see, their boy Leo Fioravanti didn’t win.
Chas Smith reporting yesterday,
At issue is the exciting Lexus Pipe Pro finals that wrapped but hours ago. It was a thrilling affair, the North Shore’s Barron Mamiya coming up against Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti, on the men’s side. Both had surfed very fine over the course of the event and both surfed very fine in the last frame, trading pipelines etc. Fioravanti was down, as time melted away, but snagged a Backdoor stunner that appeared good enough for him to take the lead. The judging came in wonky, Fioravanti lost and his countrymen dug deep to find a country-first passion that had gone relatively dormant in the past fifty years.
“Leo you are the champ.”
“LEO 100% deserved the win. The fact that 2 judges threw 8.8 on his wave is super suspicious. Was at least a 9+ all day long.”
“Investigate the 8.80 judge.”
“Real champion is Leo! 9.80 overscored or 9.10 underscored! We’re sick of these situations, and embarrassing for WSL.”
“You are embarassing. Leo got robbed in front of everyone.”
“Congrats, Leo!!! You are the real champion. Barron definitely where the best surfer during the entire event, but he lost the final. Once again, WSL shaming itself.”
I didn’t see the damn final in real time, a scheduling clash with UFC312 put me out of the game, but a quick scrub through the waves and it looked pretty clear cut to me and to most of my pals.
The always wonderful Vaughan Blakey DM’d me with a ‘Haha! Trippin!’’ in response to the Italian Fury story.
Vaughan asked, “What do you reckon? Foot to the floor breathing chamber raining monster chandos or peewee stall drag for a bit of extra Vishnu. Not even close in my book.”
I wrote! “Yes! Leo’s wave wildly overcooked!”
Now the three-time world champ Gabriel Medina, no pal of the judge’s let’s be frank, has weighed in a piece to camera, dissecting each scoring wave.
View this post on Instagram
Baz’s first wave: 8.17
“I thought it was a short wave for Pipeline. It had a nice drop but not a lot of difficulty. But since it was the first wave of the heat, that has to be what the rest of the waves are compared against.”
Leo’s first wave: 8.87
“I thought Leo’s wave was at least one point more than Barron’s first wave simply for the fact that he rode over the foam ball two times. “When (there’s a foam ball) you have to have more stability and it’s more technical. It was a longer wave than Barron’s first wave. I would give it at least one point more, but the difference ended up being less than one point.”
Baz’s second wave: 9.80
“It was a really good wave and he did everything right. It was a fast tube and he was able to pass the foam ball. It had more difficulty. The score was 9.80, which I thought was fair compared to the scores they had given so far.”
Leo’s second wave 2: 9.10
“I don’t think this wave was the best of the heat. Maybe a little less than the 9.80. I would give it a 9.50 for the difficulty though. He rode over the foam ball two times. He used a lot of technique, having to slow down. He waited for the foam ball, the wave sped up, he let go, and rode over the foam ball again. The wave was just as long as Barron’s 9.80 and his previous 8.87. For the simple facts of the distance travelled and difficulty, Leo’s two scores could have been a little higher, which, of course, would have changed the result.”
Y’think Gabriel coloured by his hate of judges or doth he delivereth the wisdom of a king?
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a little background for the bitter middle-aged man on here: Medina was hired by TV channel to commentate the Abu Dhabi event. This was him practicing. Pretty sure he doesn’t give 2 shits about the result.
You know da rulz bra
I guess Byron will have to deal with the wrath of the Italians whenever he goes surfing there.
A reminder to take scores and surfing as a sport with a grain of salt. Everyone sees it differently – I listened to Ain’t That Swell where the boys thought Barron easily won due to difficulty of his drop and the critical nature of his waves. Then I turn on Lipped and the boys all thought Leo won easily. I think Barron won (the heat is a tie, he had the best wave, he beat the best surfer in the comp, he was the most impactful).
After using some of my connections I was able to get some clarity on how Barron won-
All shotty dialogue taken from head judge Luli’s Hawaiian mistresses phone who he accidentally called and was leaving a voicemail through both heats.
Barron vs Jake-
Luli to other judges- “Ahh mann… Great wave…Oooofff. Decisions, decisions. You guys wouldn’t want to be in these shoes. Very stressful.” As he pauses he looks up at the sky, closes eyes and putts hands in hair before blurting out “Lets make sure Jake’s wave is in excellent range but just under what is needed to surpass Barron. Lets lock that in. Thanks guys. I’m famished. Going to grab a bite.”
Barron vs Leo-
Luli to other judges- “Ahhh mann…Another great wave. This is a real tight one….Guys…this why I make the big bucks” As he pauses and thinks it over he looks over to his left and out of nowhere he see’s Brit poke his head out of the bushes and does knife stroke across the neck with his finger before popping back in to the bushes. Luli startled then blurts out “Looks like a tie to me boyz. Yep…Lets lock that in ok. Yes…lets lock that in. Wellll…thats enough for me… Going for a nap. See you tonight at the CI after party.”
I guess we are gonna talk about it.
Vaughan said it as it was & as it should be seen & judged. “Foot-to-the-floor breathing chamber raining monster chandos or peewee stall drag for a bit of extra Vishnu. Not even close in my book.” The problem with WSL is they want to make things exciting but are forgetting their own judging scale. An excellent wave means “excellent”. It makes the spectator gush. Its not about timing how many seconds in a soft weak tube. Barron’s wave just made you clasp your fists and pump. Barron’s wave was 1.2 to 1.5 points better than Leo’s best. Its all about “wow” factor. Yep, not even close. Based on the WSL scale, Barron’s 1st wave was the top end of “good”, both Leo’s waves were “very good” and Barron’s 2nd wave was higher end of “excellent”. Doesn’t Leo realize tube stalling is boring? I scored it 6.4 + 9.5 vs 7.4 + (generous) 8.2.
0.0–1.9: Poor
2.0–4.9: Fair
5.0–6.4: Good
6.5–7.9: Very Good
8.0–10.0: Excellent
You don’t see John John doing this shit.
Someone tell the Italian he lost and get on with it, cry baby bullshit is getting old
I told him. Leo posted on Medina’s Insta and I told him and Leo deleted his post and thus mine. I told Leo something like: The judges over scored three waves in the final. Please keep in mind 8+ means “excellent”. Your first wave was not excellent (just a soft runner) and your second wave was marginally excellent (because you were mostly stalling). Barron’s high scoring wave was very exciting & exhilarating. Your waves were both stalling & lacked the “wow” factor. The judges got the scale all wrong. Barron’s 1st wave was around 6.4. Your first wave was around 7.4. Barron’s 2nd wave was around 9.5 and your 2nd wave was around 8.2. Barron won.
Im just glad it wasnt Gmed getting thoroughly robbed.
Already happened
You hoping to rob him of his virginity, then? Or has Neymar conquered this coif?
Surf judging is as much about the emotion and energy of the moment as the objective and technical facts of the wave riding.
Leo’s face didn’t fit. Plain and simple.
And it’s scandalous that’s there’s no surf judging equivalent of the referee’s report. At the very least, Fioravanti should be entitled to an explanation or review.
All this does is further deepen the culture of mistrust for fans, and probably some of the athletes, too.
But who cares! The whole carnival is off to Abu Dhabi with straight faces!
My evaluation in the comments was the most succinct annnd saucy, why am I not quoted?
For my “Ropes of Cum” reference I lifted from Ol’ mate Dez?
Xox
I believe Gabby, Leo was robbed, the judging was bad. Embarrassing WSL..
Scoring that would make an Olympic boxing judge blush! Surfing is not a real sport, but then again I don’t like real sports!
Boxing is knowingly corrupt, though. And we know that the reason is that it’s linked to gambling and the “arrangement” of careers. Surfing is not near that level; even if this result was a bit of a farce and we know it’s because of the Hawaii connection.
well, I reckon he was robbed but whatever, as you said before Chas, “live by wooz, die by the wooz.”
But, what if that wave was ridden by Bobby goatfeatures ?
Simple, a fucken 10 and Barron loses the final.
That would be a fairytale come true!
Zactly ! Orgasms from slater fanbois and much chest beating and hoof stomping.
And the world would be perfect again!
Goat names his son, Renato.
Or Ziff!
Looking at the 4 waves separately and in order, did you think that Barron won it? Nikolai, above, amongst others seems to think he did.
I thought Leo did, but now I’m not sure because the drop on his high-score was significantly less radical that the 9.8 (which I still think was an over score)