Kelly Slater Eliminated at Tahiti Pro in Controversial Judging Decision, Sending His Career (and Olympics Qualification) in Question

A rollercoaster of a day for Kelly Slater, not to mention his legions of fans.

The 11x World Champ first sailed through his Elimination Round heat at the Shiseido Tahiti Pro, with a disappearing act tuberide on the foamball. Then, in the Round of 16, Slater faced Yago Dora; but that time, he didn’t have luck (or the judges) on his side.

Slater lost to Dora in a buzzer beater moment, eliminating him from competition.

With one minute left, and Slater with a somewhat commanding lead, Dora dropped in, pulled in, navigated a couple sections, and straightened out before the wave clamped.

The score?

An 8.00.

Slater, done and dusted.

As the Great WSL Judging Controversy of 2023 continues raging on, the commenters voiced their dismay with Dora’s score in the comments section:

“TOTAL BULLSHIT.”

“Definitely rigged….”

“Just yell at the judges tower and you get what you want”

“That wasn’t an 8 lol, don’t know what Yago was claiming so proudly”

“The most 6.5 “8” I’ve ever seen”

“OVERSCORED 100%. I’m done with this freaking judges. Kelly should know better but Yago’s wave was overscored. I think this is gonna be Kelly’s last tour as he truly looked disappointed AF after such a good heat.”

And so on, and so forth.

So, what does this mean?

Will Slater retire?

Stand by for that; he's notoriously cagey about things like that.

With a current 23rd on the ranking – before everything is wrapped up and scores are tallied at the Tahiti Pro – Slater is out of the World Title question by miles. (Duh.)

What about the Paris 2024 Olympics?

John John Florence just clinched a spot for Team USA, and Griffin Colapinto did previously. Each country only gets two surfers per gender to compete. Do the math.

Petition for a Kelly Slater wildcard in the Olympics?

Who knows. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. (Ahem, the full-season wildcard after Slater was axed by the Mid-Season Cut earlier this year.)

But this is the Olympics; it’s a whole different beast.

So long, Slater? We'll see.

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