Side-by-Side Comparison: Was John John Florence Robbed at J-Bay?
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John John Florence vs. Connor O’Leary. Round of 16. Corona Open J-Bay.
Opening with a 9.23, JJF looked like he had the heat in the bag. O’Leary punched back with a solid 8.77. John backed it up with an 8.00. Then, in the dying seconds, O’Leary was left needing an 8.47; he got a decent one, perhaps close to the score needed, but maybe not. Alas, he got it. The judges gave him an 8.77, and the Aussie won the heat.
Controversial? Yes. Even O’Leary was shocked he got the score.
In a side-by-side comparison video – akin to the one we saw from the similarly scandalous judging controversy at the Surf Ranch Pro – John and Connor’s waves are seen together for a closer analysis. It begs the question: Was JJF robbed by the judges?
As expected, folks in the comments section had a lot to say about the scores:
“No way was Connor's last wave an 8.5. With all due respect.”
“Watched it live and 100% JJF should have won that heat. Definitely feels like this year he's been scored unfairly on so many waves. Must be hard for him to get his head around when he's clearly still the best all-round surfer on the planet.”
“Thanks for making this video. The scoring was clearly way off as John should have won convincingly. JJF was in form and may have won the event. We will never know…”
“JJF got robbed, WSL has some serious problems to work through when it comes to their judging”
The great WSL judging controversy of 2023 rages on; next stop, Teahupo’o.
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