Already absent from the Tokyo Olympics, the 52-year-old American, surfing legend, failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Games.
In difficulty on the elite circuit, absent from the major qualifying events and caught up by his age, surfing legend Kelly Slater will not have succeeded in qualifying for the Paris Games, 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 52-year-old Floridian, legend of his sportthen planned to be able to catch up in 2024 in Polynesia…
“If I manage to qualify for the (2024) Games I will retire there”
Kelly Slater during an interview with 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 20 years old in 1992 – and the oldest in history – at 39 years old in 2011 – and the holder of 55 victories in competitions, a record. Having been struggling 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.
An age that has become restrictive
“Age is catching up a little”advances his former opponent on the pro tour Jérémy Florès, now coach of the Blues. “It’s never easy being the king. He cannot 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 crazy thing about it is that he could have won because he is one of the bosses of Teahupo’o”he believes.
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 «airs»these impressive jumps over the water, in small and medium conditions.
But on a spot like Teahupo’o, known for its steep and challenging waves, he had all the cards in hand to shine. “It no longer has the same reactivity as before but, in a tube, it is still the biggest”assures Charley Puyo, former competition director of the Quiksilver Pro in Hossegor (France), who has known the Floridian since 1985.
Proof of this: 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 of the 2nd of his 5 titles on the spot , again a record.
“Soon to finish” –
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 spot known for its very powerful wave, thirty-two years after his debut. on the pro circuit.
Its unparalleled track record has cemented its status as a “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 this sport for that long in the future.”says Australian Tom Carroll, double world surfing champion (1983, 1984), privileged witness of Slater’s rise to the top and one of his close friends.
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“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.”dit Carroll.
While he has just announced on social networks expecting a child with his long-time partner Kalani Miller, Slater, currently 33rd in the rankings 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, “It’s hard to know how long he’ll be able to continue, but I’m not worried, he has plenty of plans. And as long as there are waves to surf, it will continue to make us dream.”.
