There has been so much written and spoken about Mr. Smith’s impending world title over the years that it can’t really be spoken about anymore without someone getting irritated and calling bullshit – even though it was Kelly who originally called the South African for multiple world titles, so this piece is not about a world title. It’s about the possibility of Jordy killing it at Rio. We’re calling him for the win, or at very least some absolutely outrageous surfing along the way.
Here are our reasons why:
The man is on a roll. He started on a roll in 2010 when he finished second to Slater, and since then has not been able to string together a decent line of results, instead delivering sporadic bursts of absolute brilliance and winning events outright, or being injured, or making costly tactical mistakes in the water. It just hasn't come together for him. Until now, that is. With a second place finish last year on the Jeep Leader Board and a really positive start to the year along with the Bells victory, Jordy goes into Rio in second place on the ratings behind John John Florence. One can sense that he is putting the pieces of the puzzle together this year and getting a holistic perspective of what is needed. Jordy as often stated that a world title hunt starts the year before, and that would have been last year, so it sounds about right.
He’s won it before. Who can forget the claim for the year of Jordy The Redeemer as he took down event favourite and Brazilian hero Adriano de Souza in 2013? He had the crowd eating out of his hand, he had the judges transfixed and he had the gathered media applauding his exploits, his claims, his airs and his warm smiles and friendly interviews that he was throwing around all over the place. When Jordy gets into that mode of winning and being himself in victory, he is one helluva champion and his post0heat interviews have matured and are at times very witty and comically self-deprecating. Just like when he won Bells. He’ll bring this through to Rio, and Bobs your uncle, so to speak.
His time is coming. The cycle that began in 2010 is firmly on the way up, and he has put in the hard yards of competing on the Championship Tour for close on that decade now, so at some stage his door-banging will convert to door opening. He is a confident young man with incredible support and he knows that he has got nothing to prove, and that enough people in the world believe in him and they know that he has the talent and skill-set to be a world champion. If he keeps at it at this level, he will start winning more events, and then titles.
JBay is soon. He is supremely confident at Supers, sometimes to his detriment, but he knows that a good result or a win at Rio will put him in an extremely strong place before going to JBay. He has said before that his goal on tour is to get each wave and contest venue totally dialed in, so that he knows how to win events there, and he already has that Rio win. It might not necessarily be at the same beach as his previous win, but has all the background operational stuff totally dialed, from his hotel, to food and transport and his coach Gally. He will arrive in Rio feeling good, without a care in the world, and ready to get out there and start with his hilariously entertaining claims. Isn’t it even more funny that in a time and place on the world tour when claims are ridiculed and lampooned, Jordy can still manage to amuse and interest people with his claims, turning the stigma around on its head.
