SHAKA ATTACK
Sally’s message to supporters
HER beaming smile hidden behind a green and gold mask, Sally Fitzgibbons found a different way to project her love and hope to those watching back home in Australia.
Australia’s sole remaining medal chance in the women’s side of the draw is through to surfing’s quarterfinals after dispatching French rival Pauline Ado in a tense elimination heat on Monday afternoon. She will join Owen Wright in the next round after his huge 15-point performance in the day’s final match-up.
The girl from Gerroa strode back in from the surf to raucous applause from the Aussie contingent before throwing her hand to the sky and sending a signal to those back home.
On her hand, written under a large smiley face, were the words “love & hope” – her message to those doing it tough in Australia.
“We always throw out the shakas as surfers and because you can’t see my smile, I put it on my hand for everyone and hopefully they can feel it back home,” she said.
In choppy conditions at Tsurigasaki Beach, Fitzgibbons chased wave after wave in the early exchanges before changing tack at the death.
Like a wet and wild game of cat and mouse the Aussie stayed on the hip of her French rival, using her wave priority to quell Ado’s chances at finding the winning ride.
“Throughout the 30 minutes it feels almost like a year,” Fitzgibbons said. “You’re weighing up whether it’s more valuable to hold priority and shut down your opponent but with so many waves coming through
… you don’t know what’s coming, you’re just using your best guess.”
Fitzgibbons combined surfing prowess and smarts to extend her Olympic dream to at least Tuesday, but the same could not be said for two of her Aussie teammates.
Stephanie Gilmore had her campaign cut short in the day’s opening heat, bundled out by 17th-seed Bianca Buitendag in a stunning boilover.
Gilmore failed to find a scoring wave for almost 25 minutes as her South African rival chained six and seven-point rides to take a stranglehold on the contest.
A dejected Gilmore said she would use the loss as motivation to push for a record eighth WSL world title, adding she may yet make a run at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It got worse for the Aussies in the afternoon session when Julian Wilson lost his heat to WSL tour leader Gabriel Medina. Wilson’s camp appealed Medina’s second scoring wave for being outside the contest area, but the challenge was waved away by officials.
The 32-year-old, who before the Olympics confirmed he would take an indefinite break from the WSL tour to focus on family, said he was “happy to be going home to see my family”.
Wright made sure to end it on a high for Australia, posting the second-highest score of the day to outlast French veteran Jeremy Flores.
Wright will meet Lucca Mesinas of Peru in the quarterfinals at 9.48am AEST on Tuesday.
Fitzgibbons will hit the surf at 12.12pm AEST against local favourite and 15th seed Amuro Tsuzuki.