Paris (AFP)
"Being at the Games is amazing": Frenchman Michel Bourez clinched his ticket for the Tokyo Olympics next summer, where surfing will enter the Olympic program.
The 33-year-old Tahitian managed to clinch his ticket on Wednesday to advance to the round of 16 of the last leg of the pro surfing circuit, the Championships Tour (CT), on the mythical Pipeline Hawaii.
"I never thought of doing Olympics in my life, the surf was not there when I started, this season has changed everything, and the Games qualification has even taken over the title race. world ", said Michel Bourez, who said he was honored to be at the Olympics.
Present on the TC for 12 years, Bourez discovered surfing at the age of 8, in Tahiti. His best year remains 2014 when he won 2 stages - Margaret River (Australia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) - with a third place in Fiji, to finish in the top 5 worldwide.
Michel Bourez took one of the two male tickets available for the Olympic surfing event, the other having already been awarded to Jérémy Flores. Both will, with Johanne Defay qualified for the girls, take part in the next ISA World Championships (organized by the International Federation of South) in April to validate their selection.
With a maximum of two athletes per nation, 20 girls and 20 boys will compete in the Olympic event - played between July 26 and August 2 in Tsurigasaki Beach (Chiba Prefecture, about sixty kilometers from Tokyo).
At the end of the last stage of the men's pro circuit, the top 10 surfers in the final general classification will be qualified for the Games.
"The qualification is a step that I have crossed, I still have to finish the season with the last competition here in Hawaii, I have to focus on this competition, on my next series, forget the rest", said Michel Bourez .
© 2019 AFP