Tokyo Olympics 2021: Julian Wilson robbed by judges, Gabriel Medina in surfing
A judging disgrace and perceived Brazlian bias has denied Julian Wilson one of the upsets of the Games against Gabriel Medina.
A late protest from Julian Wilson was dismissed by surfing officials as the Aussie bowed out of the Tokyo Olympics following a thrilling elimination heat against WSL tour leader Gabriel Medina on Monday afternoon.
Wilson confirmed the Aussie camp had launched a protest following his loss, adding the team had footage of one of Medina’s scoring waves being surfed outside of the competition bounds.
But the protest was quickly shot down by officials, who told the Aussie camp the interpretation of the ruling was simply that athletes risked not having their wave scored if they ventured beyond the competition bounds, if judges could not properly see it.
The ruling only added to Wilson’s frustration, who minutes earlier said he felt his last wave of the heat – an aerial with 30 seconds to go – was worth more than the 6.83 scored by the judges.
“It was a set wave, doubled up, a critical section – me watching (Medina) and Italo (Ferreira) getting massive scores for those all year, I thought it was significantly better than anything else I did, but it only turned out marginally (better) so I don’t know how that worked,” Wilson said.
In a Round 3 heat worthy of at least a medal placing, two of world surfing’s premiere aerialists put on a stunning show at Tsurigasaki Beach.
Medina went to the air early and often, scoring a 7.5 with his first wave of the heat before repeatedly failing in his next attempts.
Wilson was more measured in his approach, though his airs were not rewarded with the same scores by the judges as his rival.
The two surfed opposite ends of the beach break for the opening stanza, until Medina secured his two scoring waves and bridged the gap to Wilson, readying to play the cat and mouse game of priority.
And there the two surfing heavyweights stayed for almost 15 minutes, until Wilson successfully sold Medina on a wave with a minute and change opening the door for a last-gasp shot by the Aussie.
Wilson thought he had it with the aerial at the end, fist pumping and clapping as he rode the white water back to the beach – only to be greeted with disappointment from the judges.
The 32-year-old, who prior to the Olympics confirmed he would take an indefinite break from the WSL tour to focus on family, said he wasn’t sure what was next for his surfing future.
“This is it for me travelling outside of Australia for a while. I need to prioritise myself and my family and just be there for my wife,” Wilson said.
“It’s been stressful leaving the family for long periods of time. I don’t see travelling with my family, which is how I operate, being possible for some time.
“The decision has been taken out of my hands for sure … but I’m happy to be going home to see my family.”
But Wilson did not rule out a return to the tour eventually, if and when non-restricted travel becomes possible.
“When it becomes doable to travel with my family I’ll definitely consider coming back, but for the time being it’s way too difficult leaving the family and quarantining in Australia and not being guaranteed re-entry into Australia,” he said.
“I have two young kids at home and a wife to support – it’s just not realistic for me at the moment.”
Compatriot Owen Wright moved into the next round after a massive 15-point performance in the day’s final match-up.
Wright made sure to end it on a high for Australia, posting the second-highest score of the day to outlast French veteran Jeremy Flores.
Wright will meet Lucca Mesinas of Peru in the quarterfinals at 9.48am AEST on Tuesday.
Stinging Sally’s epic Tokyo surf celebration
It started with a shimmy and ended with a shakas.
Our Aussies are making their presence felt in Tokyo — and not just on the podium.
Not long after Dean Boxall’s wild moves celebrating Ariarne Titmus’ incredible Gold medal win in the pool went viral, one of our athletes stole the show with a choreographed routine that’s making waves in world surfing.
Sally Fitzgibbons had just won her elimination heat against French rival Pauline Ado and on returning to the beach was greeted by team Australia with a celebration that more than caught the eye.
Adopting the jellyfish sting ‘claim’ association with the team’s Irukadni moniker, Fitzgibbons turned and ‘stung’ each of the Aussie contingent — dropping them to the black sands of Tsurigasaki Beach before raising her hand to the sky in triumph.
The whacky celebration came after a particularly powerful rendition of ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie!’ as Fitzgibbons kept her medal hopes alive on Day 2 of the surfing.
Fitzgibbons will hit the surf at 12.12pm AEST up against local favourite and 15th seed Amuro Tsuzuki.
Day 1 stokeeee in Surfing’s first ever @Olympics So proud to represent my Country 🇦🇺 along side my team mates @Steph_gilmore@julian_wilson@RealOwenWright All through to Round3 #TokyoOlympics@AUSOlympicTeampic.twitter.com/rdki63zWhe
— Sally Fitzgibbons (@Sally_Fitz) July 25, 2021
AUSSIE SETS SIGHTS ON PARIS AFTER BOILOVER
Less than a day after Stephanie Gilmore surfed the best heat of the opening two rounds at Tsurigasaki Beach, Australia’s top medal hope has been bungled out of the Olympics by 17th seed Bianca Buitendag.
The seven-time world champion Aussie looked primed for a Gold medal tilt after Sunday’s opening rounds, but it all fell apart in the knockout stages on Monday morning against an opponent who has not surfed on the championship tour since 2019.
Gilmore failed to find a scoring wave for almost 25 minutes in the sudden death opener, as her South African rival chained six and seven-point waves in short order to take a stranglehold on the contest.
The tipping point came after 15 minutes when Gilmore ceded priority to Buitendag, who turned the Aussie’s rejected wave into the best score of the heat.
“I looked at that wave and thought ‘oh, it doesn’t look that good’ so I let her have it and she turned it into a seven, so that was the most frustrating thing for me,” said a dejected Gilmore.
“I should have taken that wave and held control of the situation. It’s a tough one. (But) I still had a good five minutes in the end to try and make it happen, I just couldn’t do it today.”
It was a tough pill to swallow for Gilmore, whose patience – or pickiness – proved her undoing.
“There’s a lot of waves but maybe not a lot of good ones,” she said.
“But in saying that I probably got too picky.
“In the beginning Bianca got a really nice wave on her six-point ride … so I had that in my head for the rest of the heat.
“Just be patient and find one but yeah, in the end they weren’t there.”
After her scintillating heat on Sunday, Gilmore spoke of embracing everything about the Olympics as it could be “my first and last” chance.
But in the bitter aftermath of Monday’s upset, Gilmore said her fire to make it to Paris in 2024 had been reignited.
“One heat every four years … that’s tough to swallow,” she said.
“On the world tour you have a couple of weeks and then you go again – you have another chance to redeem yourself but this is for a while, so it really hurts for sure.
“I’m super disappointed I couldn’t make it happen, but there’s always Paris,” added Gilmore with a smile.
“A huge inspiration for me is someone like Kelly Slater. He seems like he just gets better with age. (Paris) is not out of the question.
“I’m only 33. There’s plenty of amazing female athletes getting up into their 40s … plenty of time.
“To come here and be an Olympian is obviously very special but to not get the result I wanted I’m already thinking ‘right, what did I do wrong, what can I do better (and) how do I come back and try again’.
Sunday wrap: Textbook reverse air keeps Aussies perfect
When Julian Wilson landed a textbook reverse air with three minutes remaining in his knockout heat, the dismount from the wave he had just ridden into the next round included something extra.
Surfing a board featuring the footprints of his children Olivia and River, and wife Ashley’s handprint, Wilson let loose with an emotional clap that released the tension that had been building throughout the day.
“It was a bit spirited for sure,” a relieved Wilson said after booking his place in Monday’s knockout stages.
“I felt like my back was up against the wall there.”
Earlier, Wilson was the only Aussie not to win his opening heat on Sunday, meaning he had to surf again for his Olympics survival after watching teammates Owen Wright, Sally Fitzgibbons and Steph Gilmore all punch their tickets to Monday.
Gilmore stayed back on the beach to cheer Wilson home – testament to the close bond the Aussies have built over years on tour and particularly the past few days inside camp Irukandji.
“It was awesome having Steph down here for support this afternoon. She stuck around to watch the heat and cheered me on from the beach, which was pretty special – a seven times world champion, wow,” Wilson said.
The Coolum Beach local’s late addition to the Day 2 schedule reads as a perfect start for the Australian contingent, joining the USA and Brazil as the only countries to have all four surfers continue through to the knockout stages.
Wright got the party started for the Aussies on Day 1, locking in two solid opening waves to take a hold on the auto-qualification spot, before going to the air for a five-point wave and taking first place with less than a minute to run.
The Lennox Head local was spotted throwing out the double stingers in the surf soon after – an Aussie team ‘claim’ he says has roots to the Irukandjis moniker.
“We’ve got a couple of little claims that we do – that was a tentacle sting, because we’re called the Irukandjis, and we have this other one that’s a bit like a jellyfish wobble,” a jubilant Wright said.
“It’s for whenever you have that big moment. For me, I won that heat so I said ‘I’m going to claim that’.”
Wright spoke of the highly emotional build-up to his first Olympic surf, admitting he “felt a bit sick” on the beach.
But once the Aussie touched his board he was good to go, pulling out an early air to hit the lead and calm the nerves in a heat featuring former world champion John John Florence.
“It’s a whole new ball game and a whole new level of emotions,” Wright said.
“I just had to make room for them (the emotions) and get out there and compete. It was a really special moment for me to get that first heat win.”
Fitzgibbons was up next for the Aussies in what was perhaps the most competitive heat of the day for the neutral viewer.
Trailing young gun Brisa Hennessey from Costa Rica and South African Bianca Buitendag with six minutes to go, a patient Fitzgibbons finally found the wave she was looking for.
“Sometimes you just have to be patient,” Fitzgibbons said of her seven-point ride to leap into first.
“You look at all the pieces and you just have to problem solve.
“In small conditions you’re not always going to get the opportunities you like
“I just had to trust my opportunity would come and back myself from there.”
Fitzgibbons’ love for the Olympics is not news to anyone who has followed the Aussie star over the past 18 months.
But standing on the sand at Tsurigasaki Beach just moments from surfing her first Olympics, the girl from Gerroa in New South Wales said her only thought was of home.
“On the beach it was (all about) that connection to home,” Fitzgibbons said.
“Getting beamed back into all the loungerooms back home; hopefully just bringing a smile to peoples’ faces, a bit of joy, and they can sit back and enjoy some surfing.”
But the best was yet to come for the Aussies, as seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore immediately followed the bar set by Fitzgibbons with the best individual scoring performance of the opening day.
Gilmore’s decision not to return home to Australia after the most recent WSL event at Lemoore seemingly paid off, with the veteran taking to the marginal conditions at Tsurigasaki Beach with ease.
“I spent the whole month in California before this and California has waves just like this, so I feel like I was making smart decisions leading into it,” Gilmore said following her 14.50 total.
“I could have been at home getting barrelled on the Gold Coast but I chose not to – sacrifices.”
The “smiling assassin”, as dubbed by Surfing Australia chair Layne Beachley, couldn’t hide her joy in the wash-up, declaring “I feel like I can officially say I’m an Olympian”.
“I just won my heat, so I’m trying to take it all in right now,” she said.
“I’m obviously trying to be as serious as I can be but it’s such an enjoyable experience in one’s life to come to the Olympics.
“I’ve surfed one heat already so that’s good – one down, I feel like I can officially say I’m an Olympian.”
Gilmore was the last of the four Aussies to hit the water on Sunday, which she said helped her preparation.
“It was nice to watch them in the line-up and see how the scoring was – to see what the judges were rewarding,” she said.
“I could see what the other girls were doing, see where Sally was getting her scores, but then I had to go and do my own thing and choose the waves I knew I could do my best work on.”
Gilmore will be first in the water on Monday for Round 3 from 8am AEST.
Fitzgibbons bookends the women’s heats at 12.12pm AEST.
After his thrilling escape from the repechage, Wilson’s job gets even harder – pit against current WSL championship tour leader Gabriel Medina from 2.36pm AEST.
Wright will meet Frenchman Jeremy Flores in the final heat of the day at 5pm AEST.
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