It’s not often that the leading administrator of a professional sport makes a formal statement in response to a call out from a competitor. However, this morning Erik Logan responded to Gabriel Medina’s comments about his frustrations with the current judging system. Logan was also addressing the morass of vitriol and slander that spread across social media in relation to the issue. It was a moment where ELO needed to acknowledge the space for open debate about pro surfing, but also to say to his judges and crew, “Hey guys I’ve got your back.”
Judging Gate has now caught the attention of the mainstream press and isn’t far off to the same scrutiny of other sports controversies such as Novak Djokovic’s Covid Debacle and the NBA’s current headache with Memphis Grizzle’s player Ja Morant’s gun use on social media. The WSL always wanted mainstream sporting attention, but this is probably not what they had in mind.
Below is WSL CEO’S Erik Logan’s rebuttal to Medina’s call out.
“To the WSL community,
I want to address the conversation that happened in our community following the recent Championship Tour event at the Surf Ranch. As you likely know, a small number of athletes made statements questioning the judging of the competition and the final results.
I want to respond directly to those statements, however, we first need to address a much more important issue. In recent days, a number of surfers, WSL judges, and employees have been subject to harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence, including death threats, as a direct result of those statements. Those things should never happen in our sport or any sport, and we’re devastated that members of our community have been subject to them. It is an important reminder to us all that words have consequences. We hope the entire WSL community stands with us in rejecting all forms of harassment and intimidation.
In terms of the statements made, we completely reject the suggestion that the judging of our competitions is in any way unfair or biased. These claims are not supported by any evidence.
Firstly, the judging criteria are provided to the athletes ahead of each competition. All athletes competing at the Surf Ranch Pro received these materials on May 20th. Every athlete had the opportunity to ask questions about the criteria at that time. None of the athletes who made these statements took advantage of this opportunity at the Surf Ranch Pro.
Secondly, our rules allow any athlete to review the scoring of any wave, with the judges, and receive a more detailed explanation of how they were scored with the judges. This process has been in place for a number of years, and is the direct result of working with the surfers to bring more transparency to the judging process. It is not acceptable, and is a breach of league policy, for surfers to choose not to engage with the proper process and instead air grievances on social media.
A number of athletes at the Surf Ranch Pro received points for elements such as progression and variety, so it is simply incorrect to suggest these are not taken into account in the judging criteria. Furthermore, our rules have been applied consistently throughout the season, including at events this season that were won by athletes who are now questioning those same rules.
Surfing is an ever-evolving, subjective sport and we welcome a robust debate around the progression of our sport and the criteria used to judge our competitions. However, it is unacceptable for any athlete to question the integrity of our judges who, like our surfers, are elite professionals.
No one person or group of people are above the integrity of the sport.
Sincerely, Erik Logan WSL Chief Executive Officer”
The sixth Championship Tour event at El Salvador starts next week and it’s going to be interesting to see how this story develops. Is this the end of Judging Gate, or is this melodrama just getting started?
Meanwhile, there is no bad blood between Gabriel Medina and Surf Ranch Pro champ Griffin Colapinto, who were enjoying each other’s company while they flew first class together on their way to El Salvador.
