A Perfect 10

L

ance Armstrong has won the Tour De France 7 times. Michael Schumacher has won the Formula One World championship 7 times. Both are recognized, without hesitation, as 2 of the greatest living sportsman ever. Bruce Fordyce hit a magical 9 wins in the Comrades marathon, between 1981 and 1990, and is still considered to be the undisputed ‘King of the Comrades’.

I have been presenting sport on radio for 19 years, and have covered, first hand, the above achievements, and had the privilege of meeting and interviewing all 3 of these phenomenal athletes.  

In the summer of 2010 however, I have seen something which is, in my opinion, the greatest ever by any sports-person, anywhere.  In 2010, I saw Robert Kelly Slater win his 10th World surfing title.

I met Kelly Slater in J Bay in 2009, at the Billabong Pro, and it was only once I had interviewed him, and spent 5 days around him, that I began to understand the ‘presence’ that he has on the world stage. I returned in 2010 to do more interviews, shoot more images, and watch him surf again, and I can honestly say that the only other sports person that I’ve ever been around who has that much effect on the people around him was the late Ayrton Senna. I watched Ayrton Senna on a qualifying lap in his McLaren at Kyalami, and knew I was watching something very, very special. And at that Billabong Pro in 2009, in a cooking swell at Supers, I got goose bumps as I saw Kelly Slater surf for the first time. Like that day at Kyalami, I knew that I was watching something that would stay with me forever.

I’m proud to have seen him surf, to have met him, and to have helped, through radio, to tell a small part of history. His story.  A story of a perfect 10.