John Florence Talks About His Road To The Olympics

John John Florence had a recent feature in GQ magazine. While it wasn’t as revealing as Kanoa’s spread, it highlighted some of the obstacles in front of John’s Olympic qualification.

Specifically, JJF talks about surfing in the Pipe Masters with a less-than-perfect knee. Check out some snippets from the interview below:

* words by GQ / Zach Baron

That’s where Florence’s Olympic Story was supposed to end, in fact— with him on the couch and a host of other American surfers chasing his World Surf League points and a chance at one of the two Olympics slots given to each country.

It eventually became apparent to Florence that the Olympics spot would probably come down to the Billabong Pipeline Masters, in December, the event that runs across just a few feet of sand from where he grew up and where he still lives now. The day came, and he paddled out in “windy and bumpy” conditions. “Just forget about the knee,” he told himself.

“I borderline couldn’t really turn very well,” Florence recalls. “Straight lines were kind of my thing to go do there.”

“It is scary,” Florence says, “because when you’re in those big barrels, you have no control over what the wave’s going to do.” But Florence has a way of knowing anyway. His knee survived. So did he. On to the Olympics.

Obviously this piece was written before John injured his other knee in West Oz, but still an interesting read nonetheless. My only question is down these Pro surfers keep landing spots in magazines outside of surf? I’ve been noticing quite the trend…

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