Saffa Surfers Are Rad
South African surfers are the bomb.
And that isn’t our biased opinion. Okay, wait… let us rephrase: It isn’t merely OUR biased opinion.
Our riders have been doing so well over the past few years, they’ve wracked up enough medals to give us third place in the recently published International Surfing Association’s (ISA) country medal standings! Australian and Brazilian surfers hauled in the most and second most medals respectively.
Since 1996, South African surfers have won no less than 41 medals while representing the country at all World Championships events organised by the ISA.
South Africa’s medal total comprises fifteen Gold, seven Silver, eight Bronze and eleven Copper. The Golds include overall team victory in the 2002 World Surfing Games held in Durban, and in the two Masters events run in Puerto Rico in 2007 and in Peru last year.
Clinton ‘Gigs’ Celliers is SSA’s most successful representative, having won the WSG kneeboard title in 1992, ‘94’, ’96 and ’98 (although it has to be noted that only the ’96 and ’98 medals are included in the table) and also taking Silver in 2000 and 2002.
Jordy Smith, Matthew Moir and Chris Knutsen have each won two Golds. Smith earned the Under 16 crown in Durban in 2003 and the Open Men title at the WSG in California in 2006, where Moir also clinched the Longboard title which he successfully defended in Portugal last October. Knutsen won the Kahuna’s (Over 45) title in Puerto Rico and then the Grand Kahuna’s (Over 50) in Peru.
Individual Gold’s have also been won by Travis Logie (Open Men) and Warwick Wright (Under 18) in Durban in 2002 and by Mark Wright (Grandmasters / Over 40) and Heather Clark (Women’s Masters / Over 35) in Peru. The SSA Junior team took Gold in the ISA Cup (tag team) event in Brazil in 2006.
“Considering South Africa’s small surfing population, the number of medals won by our surfers is exceptional,” says proud SSA General Manager, Robin de Kock. “It is a tribute to the talent of the athletes and also the hard work and dedication of the coaches, managers and administrators in this country.”
We couldn’t agree more! Which is why we’ll be keeping our eyes on our surfers during these future events:
The Quiksilver ISA World Junior Surfing Championships at Salinas in Ecuador (March 28 – 5 April) followed by the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games (July 31 – 8 August) and the World Masters in Chile later in the year.
Our advice to our South African surfers would be to pack light! Because at the going rate, they’ll be paying loads in excess baggage fees for all those medals that they are going to bring home!
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Despite injury, Jordy Smith Qualifies for 2009
Despite a ligament injury to his left knee that prevented him from competing in the season-ending Billabong Pipeline Masters in Hawaii, South Africa’s Jordy Smith still managed to qualify for a second year on the elite ASP World Tour!
While current ASP No. 4 Joel Parkinson recorded only the second perfect 20 out of 20 heat score in ASP World Tour history on Day 2 of the event, the last of the 12 competitors who could have overtaken Smith was eliminated, leaving the 20 year-old rookie Durbanite amongst the top 27 on the rankings who automatically re-qualify for the following year.
His chances of a second year on the dream tour looked bleak when his doctor advised him to withdraw from the Pipeline event.
Global Surf News reports that, although Jordy’s final ranking position will not be known until the event is completed, he is now guaranteed to finish in the top 27, particularly if Hawaiian Bruce Irons, who has qualified ahead of Jordy for 2009, follows through with his decision to retire from the ASP World Tour after the Pipeline event.
Jordy will be joined on the 2009 ASP World Tour by David Weare (Durban) and Greg Emslie (East London) who finished Nos. 7 and 10 respectively in the 2008 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) rankings. Travis Logie (Durban), Royden Bryson (East London) and Ricky Basnett (Bluff) finished the year outside the top 27 on the World Tour and failed to re-qualify.
In the mean time, another South African, Rosanne Hodge, demonstrated her affinity with the classic waves of Honolua Bay on the Hawaiian island of Maui when she reached the quarterfinals of the Billabong Pro Maui event on Wednesday, the first time this year that the East Londoner has advanced past Round 3 in an ASP Women’s World Tour event.
The 21-year old recorded her career best result in the 2007 event at Honolua Bay, advancing to the semifinals before being ousted in equal third place by eventual event winner Stephanie Gilmore (AUS)
Although she has already qualified for her third year on the ASP Women’s World Tour via her No. 3 ranking on the 2008 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), Rosanne will be determined to better her previous best and improve her current World Tour ranking of No. 15.
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