B4
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, August 3, 2019
Argentina’s surfers hoping to make waves at Olympics
By LUIS ANDRES
HENAO
Associated Press
LIMA, Peru — On a
Peruvian beach, Argentina’s
passionate sports fans have
been waving the country’s
sky-blue and white fl ag this
week for a group of athletes
looking to make a splash at
next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
More known for its soc-
cer players, Argentina is also
home to a wave of top-class
surfers who are hoping to
once again challenge tradi-
tional powerhouses like Aus-
tralia and the United States
when the sport makes its
Olympic debut in 2020.
Those surfers include
Latin American champion
Ornella Pellizzari and two-
time World Surfi ng Games
winners Santiago Muniz and
Leandro Usuna. They are all
competing this week at the
Pan American Games, where
they can qualify for Tokyo.
And watching from the
stands has been another
Argentine, who helped make
that Olympic dream possible.
Fernando Aguerre, the
62-year-old president of the
International Surfi ng Asso-
ciation, was the driving force
behind the sport’s inclusion
at the 2020 Games.
He has also been instru-
mental in helping surfi ng
go from being banned in
Argentina in the late 1970s to
becoming a popular pastime.
“We have waves, they’re
not big, but there are good
quality waves. Argentina’s
AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo
Argentina’s Santiago Muniz competes in the men’s open surfi ng repechage round 2 during the Pan American Games on Pun-
ta Rocas beach in Lima, Peru, on Wednesday.
population grew and people
got excited about surfi ng,”
Aguerre told The Associated
Press. “It’s really incredible
because surfi ng is now part
of the culture of the sea.”
So much so that the beach
resort city of Mar del Plata,
where Aguerre, Pellizzari,
Muniz and Usuna were all
born, was offi cially named
Argentina’s surfi ng capital
by congress in 2014.
“It was very special for
us because it’s one of those
rare occasions in which the
opposition and government
parties voted unanimously
to approve the law,” said
Aguerre, who was also the
co-founder of the Reef san-
dal and surfwear company.
“So you could say that surf-
ing unites Argentineans.”
Aguerre’s passion for the
sea came through his mother,
and ocean swimmer. At age
12, he learned how to ride
waves with his brother San-
tiago in Mar del Plata, about
250 miles (400 kilometers)
southeast of Buenos Aires on
the Atlantic coastline.
“We discovered that peo-
ple were standing on waves,
which for us was a complete
‘wow!’” he said. “We were
able to eventually buy our
fi rst boards. And that was
it. ... It was a love affair that
never ended.”
As in other places around
the world, surfi ng has at
times gone against the cur-
rent. But in Argentina, the
brutal military dictatorship
even banned surfi ng in 1978.
Aguerre challenged that ban
when he founded the Argen-
tine Surfi ng Association and
it was lifted in 1979, four
years before Argentina’s
return to democracy.
When he moved to Cal-
ifornia in the mid-1980’s he
co-founded Reef with his
brother and fi rst surfi ng part-
ner. He later sold the stake to
focus on the ISA.
Surfi ng has turned into
multibillion-dollar sport with
millions of faithful world-
wide. Argentines caught
on to the wave-riding fever
thanks to easier access to
inexpensive boards and
inspired by the victories of its
surfers. Muniz fi rst won the
ISA championships in 2011
and again last year. Leandro
Usuna, also from Mar del
Plata, won gold twice, in 2014
and 2016.
“So here, we have two
gentlemen within the last
decade who won four world
championships, representing
Argentina,” Aguerre said.
“That peaked a lot of interest,
because let’s face it: every-
body likes a world cham-
pion, especially if it comes
from your country, and surf-
ing wasn’t really a traditional
sport in Argentina. Many
probably expected an Aus-
tralian or an American, the
leading traditional surfi ng
nations to win, and it’s an
Argentinean.”
Argentine fans also
waved the national fl ag
when Muniz won the gold
last year at Japan’s Pacifi c
Long Beach just about 70
miles (120 kilometers) from
where surfi ng will make its
Olympic debut in Tokyo. On
a recent break from catching
waves, he said he was stoked
about a sport that in Argen-
tina is now synonymous
with his hometown and that
continues to swell.
“Surfi ng is growing more
and more. And it’s amazing,”
Muniz told the AP. “It’s good
for our country. It’s good for
our city of Mar del Plata that
this is happening so it con-
tinues to grow. And I’m just
happy to be a part of this.”
Brazil wins fi rst Pan Am Games paddleboard gold on last wave
By LUIS ANDRES
HENAO
Associated Press
LIMA, Peru — Brazil’s
Lena Guimaraes risked it
all on the last wave and it
paid off when she won gold
in paddleboard on Friday at
the Pan American Games,
where surfi ng is making its
debut as a sport.
The victory was a huge
feat for the Brazilian, who
beat International Surfi ng
Association world cham-
pion Candice Appleby of
the United States. Puerto
Rico’s Mariecarmen Rivera
took silver.
Appleby
dominated
most of the 5-kilometer
(3-mile) distance race that
zig-zagged through the
main surf break at Punta
Rocas beach. But she lost
the heavy break shore fi n-
ish when she was tumbled
by a steep inside wave.
“I had a great race. I led
from the start and almost to
the fi nish but I got caught
by one of those sets inside
the shore break and there
wasn’t much I could do
about it. I’d say I got a
gold medal beating, that’s
for sure,” Appleby said.
“But I’m grateful to take
this medal for my country.
Obviously, I came for the
gold, but I’m going home
with a smile.”
Guimaraes also beamed,
her face covered in sand.
“The fi nal was really
tough. It was against Can-
dice who was the favorite
one because she’s not only
a great rower but a great
surfer,” she said.
In the fi nal distance,
Guimaraes said she saw a
shortcut, and out of the cor-
ner of her eye she saw that
Candice and Mariecarmen
took a “more conservative”
route to avoid the fall.
“I said to myself: ‘I’m
going to take it. ... It’s all or
nothing,” she said.
The crowd gasped when
a huge wave broke in the
end. But Guimaraes made
it to the shore and crossed
the sandy fi nish line.
“I didn’t even know
what position I came in,”
she said. “I thought Can-
dice had arrived and I was
already so happy with the
silver. Then I started run-
ning. My legs hurt so much.
It seemed like trekking a
mountain. Then I saw that
she was behind. So the
boldness worked today.”
In the men’s race, Amer-
ican Connor Baxter won
the gold medal, paddling
through the main surf
break three times to end in
pounding shore break.
“Beyond
stoked
to
take the gold medal and
bring it back home to my
friends and family,” said
the Hawaii-born Baxter,
who is also an ISA world
gold medalist.
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