Parko to pull the pin
AUSTRALIAN surfing star Joel Parkinson has announced he will retire from competition, saying he no longer wants to win.
The 37-year-old Queenslander will compete for the last time at the season-ending Pipe Masters in Hawaii, the same event where he narrowly sealed his 2012 world title.
Parkinson made the news public before yesterday’s start of the World Surf League round in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, where he won his first event 20 years ago.
“I love everything about it, but I just can’t keep competing,” he said in a video posted on the WSL website.
“I have no more fire or desire to want to win, I just want to surf and enjoy it. Putting the jersey on is just one thing I’ve had enough of.”
But Parkinson made it clear he will always be a surf- er. “It’s not like I don’t have fire in the belly — fire in the belly is always something you have as a surfer,” he said.
“You always love to surf and that part, good waves, bad waves, sometimes you just have an itch to surf and that will always be there.”
The video also featured compatriots Mick Fanning and Mark Occhilupo, themselves former world champions.
Fanning, who retired at Bells Beach earlier this year and is part-owner with Parkinson in a Queensland brewery, led the tributes for his great friend.
“Thank you Parko — what you’ve achieved throughout your career is truly incredible,” Fanning posted on Instagram.
“Style and grace always showed through your surfing.
“But to me it’s been your friendship that I truly value. Thank you for being such a brother to me. Love you mate. You made yourself and your family proud.”
After four runner-up finishes, Parkinson clinched the world crown in 2012 with a narrow win over American legend Kelly Slater.
He secured the world title by winning the Pipe Masters and Parkinson is happy to retire there in early December.
“When I thought about where I’d want to be chaired up the beach and thank everyone, Pipe is too special,” he said.