Despite his reluctance to commit to a full year of competition in the 2011 world surfing championship tour, Kelly Slater’s victory in the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks on Wednesday has got the rest of the pro’s thinking “here we go again.”
He is heralded as the greatest surfer of all time after a record-breaking career that includes 10 world titles and 46 tour victories. Statistically speaking, his closest rival is retired legend Tom Curren, who clocked up 33 tour victories in his own highly decorated career. Kelly has the record for both youngest and oldest world champion in men’s surfing.
At the age of 39, Slater shows no signs of slowing down, and no fear towards the new crop of youngsters nipping at his heels. Without Slater, one wonders where the sport of surfing would be today.
He is the perennial crowd favourite in every country the tour visits, and has brought the surfing sub-culture into the mainstreams conscience.
The achievements and success Kelly Slater has experienced in surfing raises the question: Is Kelly Slater the greatest male athlete of all time?
Now I know that touting anything as the ‘greatest of all time’ can be riddled with problems, so what I really mean to say is the greatest male athlete of the modern era.
Because, let’s face it, before television was created sport remained in the realm of amateur competition rather than the professional athletes that we have in the modern era, athletes who are 100 per cent devoted to being the best they can be.
In terms of world titles or their sporting equivalent, no one has displayed the dominance over an international field the way Kelly has. Let’s take a look at the competition:
• Lance Armstrong recorded a remarkable seven Tour de France victories.
• Michael Schumacher is a seven-time world champion in Formula One (arguably the pinnacle of competitive motorsport).
• Valentino Rossi has nine Grand Prix world championships to his name (although two of these came through the 125cc and 250cc categories which are not the height of MotoGP. He still has seven world championships in the premier class).
• Michael Jordan achieved greatness in basketball with his six NBA titles, five MVP awards and two Olympic gold medals.
• Roger Federer spent 237 consecutive weeks in the ATP number one position, roughly four and a half years being number one.
• Sir Donald Bradman finished his career with a Test batting average of 99.94, an amazing achievement.
• Muhammad Ali, who is widely considered being the greatest boxer of all time (although boxing experts also argue the case of Sugar Ray Robinson for this accolade), Ali won an Olympic gold medal, and was a three-time World Heavyweight Champion.
• Tiger Woods is the winner of 14 professional golf championships and was the youngest and fastest player to win 50 tournaments on tour.
Of these athletes, can you say without a doubt that any one of them was by far and away the best of all time in their field? Using the same equipment, playing a different era of players, could they still achieve the same greatness?
In my eyes this removes Roger Federer from the list, as his stranglehold over men’s tennis has diminished as Rafael Nadal’s star rises. Tiger Woods gets the scrap here as well, because while no one could beat him when he was winning, after the sex scandal it seems Woods needs some of this tiger blood Charlie Sheen is so fond of to regain some mojo.
Valentino Rossi gets the boot too because many believe that Giacomo Agostini was the greater rider, and Agostini holds the record for 122 race wins whilst Rossi has won 105 thus far in his career.
In terms of greatness an additional critique for these athletes needs to be introduced, their impact on the sport. From the remaining athletes listed, I believe only Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali and Don Bradman can lay claim to having more influence over their respective sports than Kelly Slater.
Jordan repopularised basketball when the NBA was struggling to compete with the other major American sports. Jordan brought basketball to the centre stage in a way no one else could, using his freakish talents and harnessing the power of marketing and advertising that forever changed the way the public interacts with any sport, let alone basketball.
Ali was a cultural icon whose natural ability made him popular the world over. And Bradman was Bradman. He is still talked about by modern players with glowing fondness in awe of his talents.
But Kelly Slater brought surfing to the mainstream. Ask any non-surfer who the best is and they will mention probably the only name they know, Slater. Ask any surfer who their favourite surfer is and chances are that it’s Kelly Slater.
Kelly’s style of surfing is mimicked by surfers the world over. He pushed competitive surfing to a new level, causing the way events are judged to be re-thought.
Watching the Quicksilver Pro you could see the crowds surging towards the water’s edge every time he entered the water.
His domination of the sport is unheralded and most agree it will never be repeated. But is this enough to warrant being called the greatest male athlete of the modern era? Have your say, Is there anyone I left out?
Don Janelles
Guest
I just thought of something else. Tom Curren is so good because he bends his knees. Check me out on this by watching any video of Curren. There is no other surfer who bends his knees more than Curren - not even Slater. And you know what they say about bending your knees in almost any sport.!!
BennO
Guest
Curren was all about grace and power in one. He had such an amazing smooth style. His bottom turn and tube riding are just amazing, this vid is a good eg. The bottom turn on the wave at about 2.33 is a great example. And the tube at 1:38 is a great eg. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOS4ep5D9cc&feature=related ANd then for curiosity here is a piece on Curren v Slater from 1990 in France - pretty junky waves but it's quite interesting given the discusion. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kaQRc9fXt4&feature=related As for best surfer ever between the two....I still think Kelly is a better surfer than Curren. I think he's got all of curren's style and grace when he wants to but can do things on a wave that are just amazing. I think Curren's all round coolness contributes to his aura of greatness. No doubt he has greatness, but if we're talking about that (and not athletic ability) then there's the age old discussion that has to include people like Michael Peterson. It goes on forever.
amazonfan
Roar Guru
"All this is to suggest that the “greatest male athlete of themodern era,” if it is Kelly (and I would like to think he is), is not the same as the “best surfer ever” whoever that is and whatever that means" I think there is a difference between talent and greatness. McEnroe was probably the most talented American tennis player of all time, however in terms of greatness, I think he was only the fifth greatest Amercian player of all time. I don't know much about surfing at all, and I've never heard of Curren, however if he is like McEnroe, then while he may be more talented than Kelly, it does not mean he is a superior surfer to Kelly.
JM
Guest
Kelly has been able to remain at the top because he stayed healthy mentally and physically. No alcohol, no junk food, no wives and babies and responsibilities associated. He remained purely focused towards getting better. He understands his body, nutrition and is open to change, something that a lot of other athletes are not: For instance take Pete Sampras in his days and even now Roger Federer, they don t want to change rackets... Take Tom Curren, he admits he didn't want to adapt to the aerial style of surfing and therefore started surfing weird boards instead... Kelly looks at the kids and prepares himself for what's coming. So I would attribute his longevity to a highly aware consciousness and a pure mindset, something a lot of athletes lose as they get rich and famous.
Suzy Poison
Guest
Interesting article. As for surfing, I was a mate of Brad Gerlach, a nineties, surfing Pro, he was measured at the time of his Pro Career as having the lowest percentage body fat every recorded by a human being, by an institute in Western Australia. I was in a Sportman's camp in the South African Army in the 90's, the fittest guys were the surfers. I often beat the State athletes at long distance distance running although I hated it. Some caparisons between different sports say, that only the game of Squash has an overall higher cadio-vascular workout to surfing. I believe Kelly Slater will kill most other athletes in overall fitness, and the reason for that is, when you go surfing, you are just chasing the next wave, you tend to forget the workout you get as a result.
jmo
Guest
I agree he's the greatest competitive surfer ever and also think no one will ever repeat that competitive record in surfing! There are currently five or six surfers who are the top echelon of the sport: Slater, Mick Fanning, Taj Burrow, Joel Parkinson, Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds and there's really not much between them in what they can do on a wave. But Slater stands out from this pack because he's a supreme competitive animal - he is immune to pressure, knows exactly where to be to get the best waves (getting the good waves in a heat basically comes down to pot luck) he reads the conditions well, does all the right strategy and capitalises on all his chances, plus he has a presence that gets under his opponents skin with some poor fellows defeated by him before they even set foot in the water. He's incredibly fit and could easily win 3 more world titles (don't believe him when he says he might retire). And he's a nice bloke - gives a lot of his time and is outwardly humble as well. Is he the greatest athlete of the modern era - no way! Pro surfing requires fitness strength coordination and talent but it wouldn't even come close to what Roger or Lance or Usain Bolt have to go through to be top of their game. He might be in the running for Greatest 'competitor' of the modern era maybe but how does one judge this across the various sports with any authority?
Don Janelles
Guest
I'm a huge fan of KS. I think without a doubt he is greatest competative surfer ever. His surfing is still peerless; I mean, only one surfer comes to mind when it comes to commitment in every maneuver - Taj Burrow! But close is no cigar. My favorite surfer is Tom Curren - my favorite long before Kelly claimed Curren was (and still is) his favorite surfer. But Curren is Kelly's favorite for a very good reason. Nobody surfs like Curren! And his surfing is beautiful to watch - Kelly's can be much of the time too, be he's no Tom Curren. Kind of like the interesting phenomenon that todays best male pro tennis players will still go out of their way to watch McEnroe play in a "masters" tournament. Why? Even though they could whip him on the court, and probably could if they could go back in time and play him, the fact is that nobody plays tennis like Mac - and everybody knows it. All this is to suggest that the "greatest male athlete of themodern era," if it is Kelly (and I would like to think he is), is not the same as the "best surfer ever" whoever that is and whatever that means. Besides, Jordan was simply unbelieveable! I trust you get my point. Peace!
BennO
Guest
I think Kelly has influenced his sport more than the others though - but that's based on seriously incomplete knowledge of some of the other sports and my recollection of surfing's recent history, which has to be a common limitation on these excercises. But nonetheless... When you look back to the early 90s and see the type of surfing that was going on, it was all old school power vs new school flair (I can't remember how they phrased it anymore). On the one hand you had guys like Martin Potter, Occy, Tom Carrol power surfing with big carves and lip bashes and then on the other you had guys like Christan Fletcher, Shane Beschen and late on the scene Taj Burrow doing airs and tail slides. Out in front of them all was Kelly who took elements of both and created this powerful flair filled surfing. The thing is, others might have been able to do it, I mean surfing may well have evolved there eventually but Slater took them both and perfected them both and brought them together. His carves and lip bashes are just as good as anyones and so are his slides and airs. But he started combining massive carves while releasing his fins into a slide before others. At least that's my read of it. Compare what you see today at a surf comp (or just go down to Snapper or Narrabeen on a good day and watch for a while) and you'll see the evolved fusion of those two things that Kelly heavily influenced. I don't think any of those other athletes changed the basics of their sport (or contributed to the changes) in quite the same way Kelly has with his. As for athletic prowess/ability it's basically impossible to decide but I think he edges out a few of those with the exception of Lance Armstrong. Slater's aerobic fitness would be comparable to most (well maybe not equal but he'd be no slouch) but the thing I think makes him the greatest is that all those other athletes would quite possibly die, as in actually die, if they paddled out on a surfboard in 10-15 foot pipe or sunset but that's his pitch/court/fairway. Course he might die if he got punched by Ali I guess but still, that's what I reckon. Also he plays off a 2 so he's not too bad on a fairway either.