Note sponsored by Latinmov.com. Cover photo Ricardo Campello

The successful career as a professional surfer of Venezuelan Francisco “Lolo” Bellorín goes almost unnoticed in his life in Choroní, Venezuela, where he spends his time fishing, spending time with his family and surfing the occasional wave.

Lolo, 29, does not boast about his two Latin titles, his world medallist and his travels around the world thanks to surfing. When he is at home, Lolo is just Lolo, a good friend, a good neighbour, a good brother.

Away from competitions after injuring his knees in 2016 and affected by Venezuela's exchange rate disadvantages, Lolo dedicated himself to being just another Venezuelan without paying much attention to what was happening in the world of surfing.

But, while maintaining legendary status for his country's surfing, he received an invitation to be the captain of his country's team at the Pan American surfing games. His country's federation is reorganizing and his new coach has opted for a top-notch team, and Lolo had to be there.

At first he was reluctant to go, so reluctant that he waited until two hours before leaving for the airport to finally decide to go. And just like that, after practically two years without competing, he won the gold that more than 100 of the best in America went looking for and was on his way to Tokyo 2020.

The following paragraphs trace the path to victory with Pan American champion, Lolo Bellorin.

What were you doing all this time, Lolo?
What I did before the championship was ride a bike and go surfing small waves here in the Caribbean, one to two meters, but I stayed active with the bike.

We remember your medal at the 2016 World Cup in Costa Rica. From then on, how many tournaments did you participate in?
After the 2016 World Championships in Costa Rica, I went to Virginia and competed in two 3000-point QSs. Then I went to North Carolina and did really well. I made it to the semi-finals, if I'm not mistaken. The waves were super fun.

After this tournament I went to California and I was a little calmer for about four months. I had problems with my knee and I couldn't surf. From then on I didn't participate in any more championships and I was on standby..

What happened to your knee?
I think it was overtraining just before the 2016 World Championships in Costa Rica. I think I overdid it a bit with training and trying to strengthen my legs. I had wear and tear on both knees, on the cartilage. It hit me hard after the World Championships and the two double QSs in North Carolina and Virginia.

This is what kept me away from the championships, then I gradually started to get into the sea. Obviously I wasn't at the same level and I stayed calm, surfing relaxed and not much. I came home to Choroní and I spent time with my family. I didn't really want to compete because I didn't have a good competitive level and when you compete, you want to give your best.

How do you see the whole situation in Venezuela? In general terms, what do you think is relevant to say?
Venezuela, oh. Right now I'm in Venezuela and there are two different countries: Venezuela, where the minimum wage obviously isn't enough for anything, not even to eat for a day if you have a family of four or five people; things are a bit complicated on that side.

The issue of insecurity is still active. You have to be careful on the streets, you cannot take out your phones in public places, especially in the cities.

I live in Choroní, a coastal town next to Henry Pittier Park, and thank God it still exists there. It's like a little piece of another country in this paradise that is Venezuela. People there are still super cool, you won't get kidnapped there... Obviously there is a bit of insecurity in the high seasons because of the people who visit, but the town still holds up. On the other hand, there is the other Venezuela, where everything is fine and everyone is relaxed: the upper class.

We know that you have been fishing a lot, how did that profession come about?
Apart from surfing, it is what I find most fulfilling in this life. It is an incredible feeling, it is a lot of adrenaline, especially during this season of November, December and January, because it is the tuna season. There are thousands of whales and tuna jumping everywhere and it is incredible to live this experience. Fishing always keeps me active. If there are no waves, I will always be in the water fishing.

You said you almost didn't go to the Pan American Games, what was that?
Because I am so connected to fishing, I reacted. A little person who is around here motivated me a lot to go to that championship, as well as the team manager, Juan Pedro (Medina), who called me and said “you are the captain of the team and you have to go motivate all the boys. The flight leaves at three in the afternoon.” It was one o’clock and I was still at home, relaxed.

The little person, who was Maria Alejandra, had a lot to do with my trip. I managed to get to the airport, everything went well… Even when I was at the airport I wanted to go back to Choroní, but no, we went to Peru. I also wanted to spend time with all my friends that I hadn’t seen for a year and a half, two years. Diego Cadena, Lele from Argentina, Manuel Selman, even Derek, JJ, Gabriel Escudero, the Ticos, Noemar, Anthony, the Mexicans, the Peruvians, all of Latin America. I knew they were all going to be there at this championship and obviously I went to enjoy it with them and I had an incredible time. It was worth going.

How did it feel to win it?
I'm very happy to have won. The truth is that I went there to enjoy myself and to talk to my friends and to surf and to get a good result. But I didn't expect it. Maybe I could have reached the final, but I didn't expect to win this championship.

The “boys”, many of those athletes were in Hawaii for the triple crown surfing good waves. Above all, that first series with Marco Giorgi and Santiago Muñiz who are all athletes with excellent level, but thank God I was connected with the waves and with the whole beach where they always sent a very positive energy with the whole Venezuelan team, we went round by round. And wow! I enjoyed every series and when I went to see I was already in the grand final and I won the championship.

The first time I left Venezuela was in 2003 to a Latin American Surfing Championship in Punta Rocas in the Junior category and I won. I won on this beach. Today, after many years, I went to compete in Punta Rocas again and I was blessed to win this championship and I am super grateful to all the people who were supporting me.

You dedicated the trophy to a friend who passed away, tell who he was and why he deserves that dedication.
I dedicated the championship to a teammate who is no longer with us today. Miller Piña, from Choroní. He is an example to follow, Miller has always been motivated by surfing since he was little. He has two sons and one of them is Daniel Piña (member of the Venezuelan junior team). This man worked very hard to get his son to the world championships like the ISA, Huntington and he reminded me of when my dad was always there with me, always supporting me.

He always helped surfing in Venezuela, especially in Choroní, because he bought two or three boards for his son and after two months of use he gave them to local children in Choroní and always encouraged them to practice this sport. He is a person with a lot of heart and one of the best friends I could have in this life. He was always sending the waves in this championship and I am sure he helped me win this championship.

There is an interesting point that you have become a line surfer, something that you were not 10 years ago. You were a specialist in beach breaks on small waves, what happened?
I think that traveling helped me a lot to improve my surfing line. We Venezuelans are used to surfing waves of one or two feet. We are good at these small waves, but I think that just before that championship in Costa Rica (the 2016 world championship) I was surfing and traveling a lot, especially when I was living in Panama, practicing a lot in Catalina and Playa Teta. That was where I improved my competitive level, my surfing level.

I tried to use the rails by watching videos always focused on how to surf like Mick Fanning. I tried to surf like him, I don't do it the same way but we got better. Today we have a little better surfing for those Pacific conditions.

Has your life changed now that you qualified for Lima 2019 and won the Pan American Games? Do you know if you get any help from the government for having qualified?
It has changed, it has changed a lot. The joy was great for the family, for Venezuela, for me, for my friends. If we talk about the 2019 Pan American Championships, we are already talking about being pre-qualified for the Olympics. Now I think we are 16 athletes for the next Pan American Games and if history repeats itself we would be traveling to Tokyo 2020.

Obviously, all these athletes who are going to the 2019 Pan American Games are going to go with all their gear, all their equipment and in the best physical condition. Winning this championship motivated me to keep competing and I will be focused on getting to Tokyo.

Actually, I don't think I'll participate in any QS events this year, maybe I'll do a couple of ALAS around here, some in Peru or maybe I'll travel to Chile to get some fresh air, but I don't know if I'll focus on the professional championships since the support isn't that good right now.

I'm not sure about government support, I haven't had any contact with the government yet. Maybe they'll help me with my stay. There's a star airline that helped us get to Peru and I think it's going to help us again to go to South America, even to Chile, to Latin America. Thanks to that airline. It would be nice and good for the Venezuelan government to help not only me but all the athletes. There are five or six of us who have qualified, among them Rossany Álvarez who is achieving a good competitive level and can have a good result in this championship. It would be nice if they helped us to achieve a better competitive level and thus represent Venezuela.

How is your career going?
I am currently here in Venezuela, I think I will be able to continue living in Venezuela a bit calmly. We will see if the government makes a statement and some support emerges. I am not going to the QSs because it is obviously expensive.

Before, I went to the ALAS championships, I earned between 4.000 and 6.000 dollars in each championship. There were thirteen stops a year, all of which went well for me and I earned my travel expenses there. I bought the tickets, one day I went to Australia to compete, another day to Jeffreys Bay and I was able to compete with real athletes. Nowadays, the ALAS are more subdued, it is expensive to travel and spend 3.000 or 4.000 dollars in a single trip. At that time we did not have those resources and we will see what happens. I do not think that this year I will be able to travel to the QS, I will be focused on qualifying for Tokyo 2020 and surfing here in South America, especially in the Pacific.