The North Shore Has Chosen Its Olympic Favorite

The islands ache for Olympic gold.

The outdoor sports brand Florence, formerly Florence Marine X, has gathered the community to hype-up their supreme leader, John John Florence.

The clip is heartfelt and surprisingly moving. It features old videos of a pocket-sized John with an albino mane and spaghetti arms, barely able to lift his surfboard. We see brothers Nate and Ivan, and we see mum-John embracing her adolescent boys a decade before they’d become the best surfers on the planet. 

Mostly, though, we see high-profile shakas from the likes of Wolfpak founding father Kala Alexander, UFC champ Max Holloway, and the original banana pancake, Jack Johnson. 

But wait, hasn’t somebody done this before? 

Last year, Quiksliver released a pump-up video for world title hopeful Griff Colapinto, which was, rather remarkably, narrated by Hollywood kingpin Matthew McConaughey. Throughout, many charitable shakas were donated from the titans of the San Clemente community. 

Griff, despite the support, was swiftly dispatched by Ethan Ewing on finals day.  

The question must be asked: Does a cinematic hype-up video enhance performance, or is the weight of so many high profile hand gestures too much to bear?  

We’ll find out how John responds to the pressure of high-budget theatre at the Teahupo’o Olympics, coming July 27.