Gabriel Medina - 2014 ASP World Champion

and everyone who won before 1995 (or whenever they got rid of all the crappy locations) and anyone who clinched in Florianopolis windslop, Huntington...

 

Zucy

 

Skateboarding and snowboarding are probably the two closest 'alternative' sports to surfing, at least they are board sports and share common themes.
There's plenty of contests in all three. When someone wins a contest in skateboarding or snowboarding, the stands and crowds and media are not obsessed with their country of origin and feverishly waving flags and boasting about the greatness of their home country.
I like rooting for the local guy too, but this is dumb Olympics/soccer type stuff.
Surfing is taking a really silly turn if this is where it is going.

 

See. It was Zucy.

 

I don't watch, but I know it was rigged.

 

Agreed. My point is not to get into a discussion on how messed up these countries are, its to keep nationalism out of surfing. I guess though when your country sucks as bad a Brazil though you look to any gleam of hope, even surfing.

 

Agreed. The media hype being interjected into surfing right now about "Brazilian Pride" is ludicrous. It's also setting a poor precedent for the future of surfing. Is it going to be USA vs. Brazil in future years, or Australia vs. Spain? This is jock type mentality, being perpetuated right now to a absurd degree by the surf media.
No thanks WSL.

 

Bunch of racists around hete, I can't believe it. Enough with the xenophobia, it s Christmas for ****s sake. Salt life


Also, live4truth made a nice with Yankee, mark it 8, dude.

 

How the f can you score surfing? They make it into figure skating. I only watch now to see the surfing and I'm waiting for one of the competitors girlfriends or wives to club their biggest rivals knee. Thats my two cents.

 

Kelly actually said it in an interview. He said the contest should be not run. It wasn't that it was too big, it was that there was a 30mph side/onshore wind.
Kelly said he was pissed they ran the first few heats in those conditions. Even though he had a huge heat.

 

It shows the power Zucy has. They convinced Kelly to lose his heat and not go after the world title, then they convinced Dusty to get smoked and not pursue the triple crown.
Remember when they gave Simpo that ridiculous score in Portugal that took down Medina? I heard ZooCee killed the judges' entire family. All of them. Killed their wives, kids and parents.

 

"The real Pipe Masters can be found in this video."

http://www.surfingmagazine.com/video...uncontestable/

Regardless of the wash through sets, 3rd reef etc madness, i would suspect that they still had the power to clear the area and start the contest back up. after seeing that video, it does make you wonder how all the decisions go down. throw in the locals being pared down this year and the sink that went along with it <<they threw money into it to make all happy i guess and shut everyone up?

point is, after reading some of the comments off that video link, i would agree that so much sponsor money is involved that they will go out of their way to ensure no locals/wildcards etc upturn the apple cart.

Medina took the safest path to the world title, well coached, least amount of risk as possible. He played it smart from start to finish. And with a wind to his back (ASP), last couple of years. They have been pushing for a champ from Brazil, plain and simple. Everyone knows this. Now they got one.

Teahupoo was the big event this year. Medina beat Slater. But only after the two best surfers (in the semi) went head to head with the biggest set waves and drops into madness,,everyone agrees on this point. Kelly lost to Medina due to the fact that Kelly was still looking for the absolute largest set waves, IMO. While Medina was just looking to win. Which meant he really won the event on a running barrel, and Kelly's slip ups/ both. Kelly said the same thing during the pipe contest. Yes Medina's waves were huge compared to anything at most comps, but he was sure not going for broke at all. He would have passed on all of JJ's and Kelly's Bomb waves, IMO. JJ and Kelly are the best by far in all condition Large or small, it is just they do not get pumped up for crap/smallish conditions. On the other hand, we all know and have seen Medina claim everything and anything he can, no one is disputing this.

One again, well coached, keep it simple, play it safe, claim every wave you can, raw talent, ASP pushing you through, WIN THE TITLE. Everyone gets paid, sponsors are happy.

Bobby Martinez was way ahead of the curve kids.

 

^ ..nah...Medina surfed better than anybody..that's all there is to it. You could have written exacltly what you wrote and just replaced medina with fanning and you would have last year's title. Look at pipe this year ...fanning and kelly both vanished...medina found waves the entire contest

 

>>sarcasm<<

ukelelesurf

You forgot to mention imperialistic white supremacists, pushing there elitist leisure sport onto those poor Brazilian kids. Really, where would Medina be without America?

 

about medinas' claiming....if the judges reward it...then why shouldn't he?
cause i think the judges get caught up in the minute emotionally and then reward it.
example: last years pipe masters / mick / ultra-claim on average wave.....BIG SCORE.

 

He would be winning a title I'm Australia. Here,s kellys viewpoint....doesn't sound like yours....at all . and yes people hate on Medina cause he's from Brazil, if you don't see that you are blind .
rom Slater’s very busy Instagram account:

There’s no denying it… this guy lit it up all year. A very deserving #WorldChampion in @gabrielmedina. Congratulations. He #SetTheStandard of straight up shredding and competitive savvy and in doing so switched his position from challenger to leader. With the weight of a country on his shoulders, he made all the right choices to keep his head on straight and achieve his dream. I think it’s awesome how he has matched every challenge thrown at him both personally and professionally. If I was honest, I was pulling for @mfanno today to pull a magic trick but I’m very happy the win went to Gabriel in the end. To see the atmosphere around him is to see a rare situation playing out in sports and however intimidating it can be for his competitors, it’s great for the sport and a big challenge for everyone he comes up against. He’s definitely a more than worthy champion. Great job today also to #AlejoMuniz for a great event and good luck to the remaining competitors at the #PipeMasters. And thanks to everyone for all the support all these years. #Respect. @gopro #Selfie in Tahiti.


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He was specifically talking about the start of the day. Not the day as a whole. He wanted them to wait till the morning sickness cleaned up a bit.

 

that beach WROTE THE BOOK on morning sickness.

 

For the record, I HATE Medina......but......he got completely screwed by the judges in that final. Medina soundly beat Julian Wilson in the final.