Echoes of the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games

As a part of the staff that organizes these events, sometimes we don’t get to see how wonderful these ISA World Surfing Championships truly are.

It’s an  amazing opportunity to be a part of these events as staff, but typically, the months before, during and after the event we are so busy that it is hard to get a feel for the experiences had by the surfers, media, and spectators.

When it comes to what happened at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games 2009, held in beautiful Playa Hermosa, it’s easy to realize that things went great.

Not only because of the perfect and consistent waves, the elite surfing level, the thousands of spectators on the beach and webcast, but also because of the positive feedback we received.

Below are some of the comments we received:

ISA President, Fernando Aguerre

This was a great event. The new team format (4 open men, 2 open women and 2 longboarders) proved to be the right decision. The inaugural Billabong ISA World Surfing Games will go down as a historical moment for surfing, with a  record number of competitors and national teams in attendance. Congratulations to all the nations and see you next year!

France´s Monsiuer le Président Nicolas Sarkozy on a letter to the French Surfing Federation  

(…) Jeremy Flores who won the title in the Open Men just like his country fellow man, Antoine Delpero in the Longboard division and Pauline Ado who won the copper, gave to France the silver medal.

You deserve to be distinguished, medal winners, as well as the rest of the team and the trainers. To all of you please receive my congratulations for such an amazing victory.

Please accept my deep recognition of your substantial merit.


Open Men Gold Medalist, Jeremy Flores (FRA) on the webcast of the event before singing “La Marselleise” before a crowd of 20,000

This is the most special win of my life. This is huge! Winning the Gold Medal for my country is the best feeling I’ve ever had in a surfing contest...


Open Women Gold Medalist, Courtney Conlogue (USA), webcast, Surfline and ISA beach interview

The Billabong ISA World Surfing Games are our sports Olympics and for the first time in 13 years the USA Surf Team brought home the GOLD! 

To be surfing in front of all these people is amazing. I’m so happy for what’s happening. I’ve been competing in ISA events for six years, I worked hard and I finally made it. It means a lot to me to win this contest. It’s been such a great event…it’s just really been such a fun journey so far.


Open Men Silver Medalist, Cory Lopez (USA), interviewed by Surfline.com

It's a really cool experience. You meet a lot of people you've never met before. The opening ceremony is just insane with all the countries and the flags. It's one of the coolest things I've done.

In the ISA competition, I felt like I really wanted to do good for my country. I didn't want to let anyone down. You don't want to let your team down. I definitely had to give it all I had. I haven't really done that in a while. To wake up early and free surf before my heats was a change for me [laughs].

It was really cool just being on stage with them playing the National Anthem when we all got our Gold Medals. That was a really special moment for me. That's my most memorable moment -- hearing the National Anthem played. I've never felt that sort of pride before.


USA Team Coach, Ian Cairns (AUS), e-mail communication with ISA President, Fernando Aguerre

Certainly the win at the Billabong ISA World Surfing Games was very satisfying professionally but on a personal level, being part of the international spirit was also a great experience.
I think there is some true magic at the event that has not been realized in countries like Australia and the US and it will be our mission to raise the profile and credibility of a US Team win to being at least the equivalent of an ASP World Title.
The social interaction across languages and cultures is a  priceless experience for the young surfers…
We're looking forward to the Juniors!



Enough said. The Billabong ISA World Surfing Games was a total success in every aspect and is definitely an event that will go into the history books.

About the International Surfing Association (ISA)
The International Surfing Association (ISA) is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the World Governing Authority for Surfing. It was originally founded as the International Surfing Federation in 1964 and has been running world championships since 1964 and the Junior World Championships since 1980.

ISA membership includes the surfing National Governing Bodies (NGBs) of over 50 countries on six continents. Its headquarters are located in La Jolla, California. It is presided by Fernando Aguerre, first elected in 1994 in Rio, and re-elected six times since. The ISA's four Vice Presidents are Alan Atkins (Australia), Robin de Kock (South Africa), Mike Gerard (USA) and Karín Sierralta (Peru).

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