John John Florence was more than up for the challenge of the medium-sized mugs. Photo: ISA
God, I would really like to see Olympic surfers crawling up to their waists, A French beachbreak in summer… no one said that while watching the first day of the surfing Olympics in Tahiti. I’ve been watching Teahupo’o on a screen for years. But being in the channel for the first time, feeling the power of the turquoise ocean fold in on itself and crash against the reef, is something else.
I had fun watching the beach cams in metropolitan France today, admiring surfers as they ferociously pumped through waist-deep mud to reach the inland sandbars. I laughed as I thought of the once-heated debate over whether competitive surfing should be held in France or Tahiti. After watching Americans Carissa Moore, John John Florence, Griffin Colapinto and Caroline Marks each take on nine-point tubes at Teahupo’o, we can all agree that Tahiti was the right choice, if not the brilliant choice, for Olympic surfing, right?
Opening day was a pretty tame version of Teahupo’o compared to what might come later in the event window, but organizers couldn’t have asked for better conditions to get started. Gabriel Medina summed it up best: “When the waves come, it’s perfect. Not too big, not too small.”
Wide-open barrels in the high ground were on offer to get the first non-elimination round in the books. Being lucky enough to enjoy such conditions on the first day of the window will give organisers greater flexibility in choosing their spots in the future.
As expected, Gabs (and John John) were ready for Teahupo’o. Photo: ISA
Team USA clearly stood out. All five surfers won their heats and advanced directly to the third round. Marks’ 17.93 and Florence’s 17.33 were the highest heat totals of the day for the women and men, respectively. The Americans should be beaming with confidence as the only country to get waves in the nine-point range, and also considering that Moore wasted no time in dusting off the cobwebs after moving away from the Championship Tour.
Gabriel Medina appeared comfortable in his first-round victory. In the press box after his heat, he comically dodged questions about whether he was the gold medal favorite, saying, “I don’t know, that’s what people say.” When asked who he thought his biggest competitor was, he again opted for a conservative answer, listing several of his competitors: John John, Jack Robinson, Joao Chianca and Kauli Vaast. But when asked who he thought would win the women’s event, he was decisive: teammate Tatiana Weston-Webb.
Under the scrutiny of the media and surf fans who have been questioning Filipe Toledo’s ability to surf heavy tubes for months (if not years), his first performance didn’t give much cause for optimism. After missing an early-season tube opportunity, he only scored a 7.63. When speaking to Toledo about his commitment to performing at Teahupo’o, he insisted he was ready and that the Olympics were his priority this year. However, Toledo has only visited Tahiti twice this year – a pre-TC trip and then his current Olympic trip, which began 15 days ago. When I asked Toledo if he thought the two trips he made to Teahupo’o this year were all he could have done to prepare, he replied, “I have no excuses. What I had to do was done.” Two (trips) were enough.”
Peruvian Alonso Correa is the culprit behind Toledo’s relegation in the second round. Correa, who proved to be one of the outsiders from the start, simultaneously eliminated Toledo and Kanoa Igarashi.I have marked him as one of my outsiders to watch.) He managed to land masterfully on a steep slope and hook his board under the crashing lip just in time to park in the tube and get spat out – earning him an 8.5 from the judges.
“I thought I was a little deep, but when I got into the tube I saw everything clearly, the reef below, the incredible colors,” Correa told Spanish-language surf outlet, Duke Surf“Because I had second priority, I couldn’t paddle too much. At first it looked a little messy, but (when Kanoa didn’t use his priority) I had to go for it. When I took off, it just sucked (off the reef).”
Igarashi admitted he often has trouble focusing on first-round series that don’t carry the consequences of elimination. “It’s hard for me to take it seriously because we’re not losing,” Igarashi said. “It’s something I have to work on. I’ll forget about today and start over tomorrow.”
Caity Simmers and the rest of Team USA = Fire. Photo: ISA
The women’s fourth round looked to be – on paper at least – the richest of the day with Caity Simmers, Molly Picklum and Tatiana Weston-Webb. However, as Simmers explained after the round, all three made crucial errors and the round failed to produce any notable performances. It only took a pair of sixes from Simmers to clinch victory.
When I caught up with Simmers afterward, she smiled and told me she was furious when she first saw her Olympic wave chart. “But obviously I’m going to have to ride them at some point, so it might as well be the first wave,” Simmers added. She also emphasized the importance of living with her star teammates in the U.S. house. “It’s a really good thing that’s happening in this house,” Simmers said. “I try not to bother them with too much (surfing) advice, but just going out and surfing with them every day helps a lot, seeing them and trying to emulate them.”
In addition to the Americans, six other surfers managed to achieve excellent runs on the first day: Costa Rican Brisa Hennessy, Japanese Shino Matsuda and Spanish Nadie Erostarbe in the women’s category, and Spaniard Andy Criere and Peruvian Alonso in the men’s category.
In other news, Jordy Smith was the only person to go RIGHT In the first round, a strategy that has allowed him to “get big scores in the past” when the waves were further west, he said. “You have to keep an open mind,” he said. This time, going right only earned him a close-out worth 0.93 points, but Jordy said he last did it in 2013 and got a wave in the 6.5/7 range. In the media scrum, Smith also denied rumors he would retire after this season, calling it “false information.” Although he added, apparently half-jokingly, that he would consider retiring if he won the Olympics and the CT this year.
The second day of competition will likely continue on Sunday, July 28, with the first qualifiers of the second round. The forecast calls for a similar swell size and another day of offshore winds.
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