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When you hear competitive news from the East Coast, it
usually involves one of two names: Kelly Slater or CJ Hobgood. But let’s forget
about Kelly’s nine world titles and CJ’s current #2 world ranking for just one minute;
let’s disregard Pro Juniors and the NSSA Nationals and the ESA Easterns, along
with all the grom contests, benefit events, and your local longboard classic comps.
To borrow a slogan from the losing side of the 2008 presidential campaign, let’s
think about “Country First” for once.
The PacSun U.S.A. Surf Team reasserted America’s
global dominance by winning the overall gold medal at the 2009 Billabong ISA World
Surfing Games, held August 1st-August 8th in Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica. Former
WCT standouts-turned-current freesurfing savants Ben Bourgeois and Cory Lopez
anchored the squad, along with Kure Beach, NC, longboarder Tony Silvagni; the
other five members of Team U.S.A. (Courtney Conlogue, Sage Erickson, Nat Young,
Austin Ware, and Steve Newton) all hailed from California. The whole affair was
déjà vu for Bourgeois, who helped Team U.S.A. win its last overall title in
1996 via his own gold medal in Juniors, along with help from fellow Right
Coasters Damien Hobgood, Jeremy Saukel, Bryan Hewitson, and coach Kevin “Doc”
Grondin.
While the only gold medalist in ’09 came from
assertive wahine Conlogue in Open Women’s, all three East Coasters made their respective
finals: Lopez finished a close 2nd to current ‘CT Frenchman Jeremy Flores in
Open Men’s for the silver medal, Benny B placed 4th for a copper medal in the
same division, and Silvagni also placed 4th to earn a copper in Longboard (he lost
to another Frenchman, Antoine Delpero). The Rightside trio dominated their
preliminary heats, with Cory and Silvagni both advancing through each and every
main round, while Ben only fell to the repercharge loser’s round immediately
before the final. And just for perspective, the Open Men’s division had surfers
from 35 countries battling for a win, before the final ended up hosting two
East Coasters, a Frenchman, and a Peruvian. So in case anybody was wondering, the
East Coast truly does breed the finest in world-class talent.
But consistency was the key for Team U.S.A., as five
out of eight American surfers made their finals; even with two individual gold
medals, Team France was still a whopping 1630 points behind the Americans in
the overall tally. Perhaps the biggest influence came from legendary Australian
surfer Ian “Kanga” Cairns, who lent his enormous coaching talents to Team
U.S.A. and brought a fresh perspective of mental toughness, outward calm, and
individual integrity to the group. “We were the ONLY team that put the time in
on the two contest sites, studying the waves and running mock heats,” Cairns
told Surfline.com. “I would [also] like to think we were being less ‘in-your-face’
than prior U.S. Teams; [while] the other teams were at the water’s edge with
their country flag and whole squad burning energy in the baking midday sun, we
were in the shade staying out of trouble, hydrating, and conserving energy. This
is the personality that I would like the team to have during my tenure.”
Whether it was the new mindset, the WCT-level
experience of Lopez and Bourgeois, or the rapidly improving talent of recent
Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing winner Conlogue, Team U.S.A. returned to a podium
not visited since the ISA’s inaugural World Surfing Games in 1996. “We won the
gold after 13 years, but rest assured the other teams will be back with a
vengeance in 2010,” Cairns finished. “We relish the challenge.”
FINAL
RESULTS OF THE 2009 BILLABONG ISA WORLD SURFING GAMES
TEAM
GOLD: United States, 14910 points
SILVER: France, 13280 points
BRONZE: Australia, 10996 points
COPPER: Hawaii, 10856 points
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OPEN MENS
GOLD: Jeremy Flores (FRA)
SILVER: Cory Lopez (USA)
BRONZE: Gabriel Villaran (PER)
COPPER: Ben Bourgeois (USA)
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OPEN WOMENS
GOLD: Courtney Conlogue (USA)
SILVER: Roseanne Hodge (ZAF)
BRONZE: Sage Erickson (USA)
COPPER: Pauline Ado (FRA)
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LONGBOARD
GOLD: Antoine Delpero (FRA)
SILVER: Harley Ingleby (AUS)
BRONZE: Ben Skinner (GBR)
COPPER: Tony Silvagni (USA)
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ALOHA CUP
GOLD: Australia
SILVER: France
BRONZE: Peru
COPPER: Tahiti
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