Paris 2024 Olympics: “Age is catching up a little”, surfing legend Kelly Slater (52) will not go to the Games, a huge disappointment
Rattrapé par son âge et les blessures, l’Australien Kelly Slater n’ira pas aux Jeux de Paris. MAXPPP – WSL
L’homme de tous les records, incarnation vivante de son sport, l’avait annoncé : il comptait prendre sa "retraite" après les Jeux Olympiques.
In difficulty on the elite circuit, absent from the major qualifying events and caught up by his age (52), surfing legend Kelly Slater failed to qualify for the Games of Paris, a failure which could spell the end of his immense career.
Already in Tokyo, in 2021, the first major Olympic surfing festival took place without the man who wrote the most beautiful pages of his discipline. But the Floridian, legend of his sport, then planned to be able to make up for it in 2024 in Polynesia…
A fantastic and unrivaled track record
"If I manage to qualify for the (2024) Games, I will retire there", he announced to the British daily The Guardian in February 2023. In the meantime, physical problems have accumulated for the "King", 11 times world champion, the youngest – at age 20 in 1992 – and the oldest in history – at 39 years old in 2011 – and the holder of 55 competition victories, a record.
Doesn’t matter how much time is on the clock, never count out @kellyslater. ⏱
Tune in to the @Lexus #PipePro, Jan 29 on https://t.co/ie0ZfMWjFw.@YETICoolers pic.twitter.com/rL5v2rDmgs
— World Surf League (@wsl) January 26, 2024
Having trouble with her hip for several years, Kelly Slater finished 23rd in the 2023 Championship Tour, the elite circuit, far from the first ten qualifying places for the next Olympics.
The 9th place of the United States at the World Team Championships last month in Puerto Rico, which granted a non-nominative quota to the titled nation, and where he was absent, definitively extinguished the Olympic hopes of the veteran, supplanted by John John Florence and Griffin Colapinto.
Caught up on the physical glitches
"Age is catching up with him a little", advances his former opponent on the tour pro Jérémy Florès, now coach of the Blues. "It’s never easy being the king. He can't excel as he wants because he has physical problems". "I would have loved him to be there with us at the Games for everything he brought to our sport", regrets Florès, residing in Tahiti. "And the craziest part of all this is that he could have won because he is one of the bosses of Teahupo’o"< /em>, he estimates.
It no longer has the same reactivity as before but, in a tube, it is still the largest
At the top of his sport for more than 30 years, Slater displays in 2024 an athletic and technical deficit compared to the younger generation, capable of stringing together the "airs", these impressive jumps over the water, in small and medium conditions.
But on a spot like Teahupo’o, known for its steep and engaging waves, he had all the cards in hand to shine. "He n& rsquo;no longer has the same responsiveness as before but, in a tube, it is still the largest", assures Charley Puyo, former competition director of the Quiksilver Pro d&rsquo ;Hossegor (France), who has known Floridian since 1985.
Proof of this is: Slater is the only one in history to have obtained a mark of twenty out of twenty at Teahupo’o, thanks to two perfect hits made in the final in 2005, on the occasion the 2nd of its 5 titles on the spot, again a record.
The equivalent of a Pelé, Ali, Jordan
In 2022, the year he turned 50, he again finished in the top 4 of the event and also won the Pipeline stage in Hawaii, another famous spot for his very powerful wave, thirty-two years after his debut on the pro circuit. His unparalleled track record has for several years already cemented his status as "greatest surfer of all time", the equivalent of Pelé in football, Ali in boxing or Jordan in basketball.
"No one comes close and no one is going to dominate the sport for that long in the future", says Australian Tom Carroll, double world surfing champion (1983, 1984), privileged witness to Slater's rise to the top and one of his close friends.
"He’is someone who loves surfing from the depths of his being. This sport gave him recognition but also a lot of freedom. He would have loved to become an Olympian and have an opportunity to win gold, Carroll said.
At the twilight of his career
While he has just announced on social networks that he is expecting a child with his long-time partner Kalani Miller, Slater, currently 33rd in the ranking out of the 34 athletes on the elite circuit, seems more than ever in the twilight of his career. "I haven't announced anything yet, but I will finish it soon", he said Tuesday after his first victory of the year on the tour during a qualifying series at Bells Beach in Australia.
For Jérémy Florès, "difficult to know how long he will be able to continue, but I'm not worried, he has plenty of projects. And as long as there are waves to surf, it will continue to make us dream".
Related Posts
-
PODCAST. Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Louise-Aïna Taboulet, skateboarding and youth in power
-
6 Nations Tournament: for Richard Astre, “it is abnormal to have expatriated Dupont (in rugby sevens), because he is the true leader of a generation”
-
MHR – Usap: Lenni Nouchi still in care, Jan Serfontein back with Montpellier
-
MHSC – PSG: Ferri, Khazri, Nordin and Sylla come out of the shadows.
About The Author
