ASP Banquet 2011 : Kelly Slater dédie son trophée à Andy Irons

Ecrit par Surf Prevention.com / Dans ACTUALITES, Kelly Slater, Mick Fanning, Paroles de surfeurs / février 28, 2011

Kelly Slater recevait officiellement son trophée de champion du monde de surf, pour la dixième fois de sa vie, au sein du Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Center ce vendredi 25 février 2011. Ce trophée venait officialiser son 10e titre obtenu à Puerto Rico en novembre 2010, quelques jours après la disparition d’Andy Irons. Dans un discours chargé d’honnêteté et d’émotion, où il est passé du rire aux larmes, Slater n’a pas manqué de rendre un vibrant hommage à Andy Irons. Extraits :

« Quand j’ai commencé à assurer en surf, quand j’étais enfant, et quand j’ai commencé à gagner des compétitions et à avoir des photos dans les magazines, ma maman me disait : « Ne prends pas la grosse tête, d’accord ? Si tu prends la grosse tête tu auras une claque. » Mais au fil des années, alors que j’avais de plus en plus de succès, il y a eu des moments où j’ai eu besoin de me faire remettre les pieds sur terre par les gens autour de moi. Mais j’ai toujours gardé ça en tête et maintenant je me sens plus humble avec ce succès que je ne l’ai jamais été. »

Slater remercie ensuite toutes les personnes qui l’ont aidé : « D’abord je veux remercier ma petite amie Kalani. Elle a été solide comme un roc pour moi. Merci ma chérie. Et je voudrais remercier mon boyfriend (sic) Belly. Où es-tu ? Tu devrais briller plus que moi (avec ton crâne chauve). » Il a remercié également ses proches Travis Lee, son manager Terry, Shelby, Pottz, Tom Carroll… Il a terminé son discours en larmes :

« Et à Andy, à la famille Irons. Mon dieu, c’est bizarre, les gens me demandaient sans cesse si j’allais me retirer mais c’est dur car tu t’attaches à cela…être sur le tour, voyager avec tout le monde… Une grande partie de ce désir, de ce désir de faire de la compétition, est mort quand Andy est mort. Je dédie donc ce trophée à Andy , et je veux dire merci. »

Dans une interview donnée à ESPN après son discours, Kelly est revenu sur la relation particulière qu’il entretenait avec Andy Irons qui était un peu celle qu’auraient pu entretenir deux frères ennemis. Il a souligné le côté enfantin d’Andy dont nous parlions la semaine dernière sur le site.

Stephanie Gilmore, bien remise de son agression, s’est également montrée à la hauteur de ses résultats sportifs exceptionnels (4e titre mondial) tant dans son discours que dans sa magnifique robe !

Source : http://espn.go.com/action/surfing/blog/_/post/6157874/emotions-run-high-2011-asp-banquet

Voir l’intégralité du discours de Kelly Slater :

« When I started doing well, when I was a kid, and started winning contests and getting pictures in newspapers at home and stuff, my mum, she always just said, « Don’t get a big head, y’know? If you get a big head I’ll slap you. » But as my life goes on and I’ve had more and more success, there’s definitely been times where I needed to be brought down to Earth by people around me. But I’ve always had that on my mind, and now I find myself more humble with having this success than at any other time. It’s been a magical occasion for me to win this title, in a lot of ways. Y’know, there’s the challenges, the obvious challenges. When I was getting back on the tour after taking a few years off, there was a lot of doubt whether I’d be even in a shot for the title. So at this age, I just turned 39 years old, and half of you guys out there, even to my face, make fun of me for being that old. It’s funny, ’cause it’s like you see all these changes happen in people over the years, and when I got on tour I was kinda the hated little kid and now I’m like, the loved old guy by all the older guys that used to hate me when I was a little kid. ‘Cause they’re like, « You’re keeping the dream alive mate (in his best Australian accent), for all us old guys. » I’m like, « Fuck, excuse me (for swearing), y’know, you’re that dude, you’re that guy that was dropping in on me and giving me shit when I was a little kid. Now you’re all cool ’cause you’re old. » So I watched all those faces you made back there (on the screen), ’cause I saw Layne’s when Steph was talking and it was really, ah… anyone see that? (Layne introduced and awarded Steph her world title trophy, and stood behind her while she made her acceptance speech. Kelly was referring to her facial expressions during this speech.) She didn’t know she was up there (on stage)! (Rapturous applause). I was trying to figure out how to work that one in.

« There’s a lot of people I have to thank. I never write stuff down, so I always hope that I don’t forget people. ‘Cause there’s a whole lot of people around the world that help me, a whole lot. I don’t forget any of those people, but in these moments I do forget names that I wanted to say as soon as I walk off the stage. I’ll take a shot. First I wanna thank my girlfriend, Kalani. She’s just been such a rock for me. Thanks babe. And I wanna thank my boyfriend Belly. Where are you? You ‘d be shining more than me (with bald head). I gotta thank Travis Lee, who’s here tonight with his wife and left his child at home I think, I don’t hear her crying. But Trav, you go out of your way for me all the time, and I really appreciate it, so thank you. I don’t know whether my family at home is watching this. Sometimes you can’t see or hear, but you can feel. I just wanna tell my family that I love them and thanks for all the support. I’m 39 and my brother’s 42 and we still fight for some reason, I can’t figure this one out. He’s always been a motivation for me and pushed me. My mum had surgery on her eye today. She’s fine, but it’s funny, I talked to her this morning and she said, « I can just feel when you’re in Australia for some reason. » I was like, « I think I told you that, but… » She was feeling it though. She’s probably feeling this. She’ll actually probably, she’ll feel this and she’ll be like, « Something’s wrong, what’s wrong? » You know mums. I have a lot of families around the world that I stay with and I get to visit every year. The one I stay with the most is the Miller family back home. I don’t know if they’d be watching this, but I love you guys too.

« I gotta thank my manager Terry, who has also just done so much for me, and Kalani and my family, and just been a really close, personal friend beyond any work relationship. I also wanna thank Shelby and the whole Fresh n’ Clean crew, who’s everywhere with me and making me work. But thank you guys, I love you guys. And that brings me to the Quiksilver crew up here in the front. You guys, thanks so much for 20 years of support. Actually it’s been 21, when I was 10 they sponsored me for a year, gave me a pair of trunks. That’s cool. But you guys, thanks so much, all of you guys, for all the years of support and believing in me. Even though I didn’t win that amateur world title, Bob. I’m trying to make up for it now. Trying to impress the boss.

« I think that’s really about it. I’m gonna forget people, and they know how I feel. Pottz, I wanna thank you, wherever you’re sitting. Tom Carroll, I know where Tom’s sitting, he’s right there. You guys are my brothers, so, thank you. And to Andy, to the Irons family. God. It was weird, people kept asking me about retiring and all this stuff, but it’s hard – you get attached to something… being on the tour, and traveling with everyone. A lot of that desire, for me, that competitive desire, died when Andy died. So I dedicate this to Andy, and I wanna say thank you. »

Transcription Stab Mag : http://www.stabmag.com/elliot/kelly-slaters-acceptance-speech