By PHIL JARRATT
it was a big week for surfing around the world with the International Olympic Committee voting in Rio to accept the recommendation to make surfing an Olympic sport in Tokyo in 2020. It was also a big week in smaller ways at other surf breaks, but we’ll get to them in a minute.
The IOC thumbs up for Tokyo is a huge and well-deserved victory for the International Surfing Association, and in particular for its long-time president, Argentine-born Fernando Aguerre, who, with his brother made a fortune by associating Reef Sandals with electric images of suntanned female butts. I’ve been critical of Fernando often enough, particularly about the way surfing’s amateur world titles have been pretty much hijacked by South and Central America, but I have to take my hat off to the guy for sheer tenacity.
Surfers around the world may have smirked behind their hands as Fernando signed up land-bound countries like Afghanistan and the Czech Republic to get to the Olympic requirement of member countries, but the bottom line was Fernando’s – whatever it takes.
Now that surfing gets to wear the Olympic rings, the big question is, what will we do with them. There’s been a lot of mixed reaction since the Rio announcement, some of the negatives ill-informed since the IPS and now the World Surf League already busted us out of cult status a long time ago. In terms of popularizing surfing and increasing surfer numbers, I would argue that the damage has already been done. More to the point is how surfing fits into the Olympic mould.
I know there are many top surfers who would have jumped at the chance to represent their country at the Olympics. Layne Beachley has spoken eloquently about this, and indeed in her post-competitive career was a team mentor at the last Olympics in London. Mick Fanning has been a huge supporter of the Olympic campaign, as have the Hobgoods, John Florence and Nat Young in the US and Gabriel Medina in Brazil. But if surfing is really going to make an impact among the myriad better-known Olympic sports, then it needs a time slot and a central venue.
I once asked a TV sports guru of my acquaintance how to get surfing live on TV (this was long before webcasts) and he said: “Put the final on at 3pm on Sunday.” At the Olympic level, this is still true. Although the Japanese ministers for sport and tourism have expressed the view that they want to make 2020 a showcase for their beautiful natural surf breaks, if it’s flat or onshore surfing will fade into insignificance before it has a chance.
Wave pools are the obvious answer and the WSL and a billionaire named Dirk Ziff hold the key. The WSL recently bought a major shareholding in the Kelly Slater Wave Pool Company. Mr Ziff is the biggest single shareholder in both companies. The plan is to build a showpiece wave pool within easy access of the other games venues at every Olympics.
Apart from making Mr Ziff even richer, this would go a long way towards making the WSL viable into the future. But more than that, it also might make surfing viable as an Olympic sport, for better or for worse.
So close for Noosa at the Nats
In the big ticket events at Surfing Australia’s Australian Surf Festival in Coffs Harbour last week it was a case of what do we have to do to win? As the longboard divisions reached the point end, our Nic Brewer was all over the junior mens final until he got pipped in the final seconds, having led all the way. It was a devastating second (if that’s possible – I’ve been trying for a second for 55 years!) for the great young competitor, who backed it up with another second in the junior logger.
Then the veteran former world champ and multiple Australian champ Josh Constable went head to head with another world and national champ in local boy Harley Ingleby in the final of the open mens. These two mates have been fighting it out throughout their storied careers, and they don’t exactly hold back, which might explain Josh’s heartbreaking interference call, which put him out of play and into a well-deserved second.
As I write, Josh has just smashed the first round of the over 35s with a near-perfect score in the first round, so he ain’t done yet.
Meanwhile, in Bali …
We were filming on the Bukit last week, which gave me the opportunity to drop in to Padang Padang to catch some of the Rip Curl Cup WSL specialty event. Although the anticipated mega-swell didn’t quite eventuate, it was a Mega event in other ways, with Indonesia’s Mega Semahdi taking out the title in solid double overhead barrels.
This was no mean feat in a field of absolute legends who were scoring perfect 10s, seemingly at will. Mega was superb, tucking into barrels he knows like the back of his hand, but so too were Bruce Irons and finalists Damien Hobgood, Mason Ho and Clay Marzo. It was a spectacular day’s surfing.
