Hawaiian John John Florence has not given up on qualifying for surfing’s historic debut at the Tokyo Olympics. He hesitated on the idea in a post last week and confirmed it today in an interview published by the ESPN website: “I will do everything I can control to get to the Olympics,” he said.

“It’s still a goal for me to qualify and I want to tell people that I’m working towards it. My goal is to get better for Pipe in case I have a chance and can score points. That’s a short-term goal,” John John said, adding: “I’m giving it my all to heal as quickly as I can to get back in the water and compete again (…) I’m enjoying doing everything I can to get back to where I was.”

Basically, John John needs the rest of the Americans to do badly so that he can overtake them in the final stage at Pipe. His mathematical chances are real but it depends on the performances of Slater and Conner Coffin (who are the two with the best results this year). Kolohe Andino, who is in first place, has already overtaken him.

“Luckily, I had a lot of points from doing things well at the beginning of the year so I still have a chance to qualify through the tour for the Olympics, and that is my dream (…) But I don’t have much control over that at the moment I have to sit back and see what Kelly can do,” explained Florence.

“It’s all going to be determined when Pipeline comes around and how Kelly and the rest of the Americans have scored points. There’s a chance my knee will feel great and I’m definitely in line to surf Pipe and secure my spot in the Games. If Pipe comes around and my knee doesn’t feel great, I’ll have to re-evaluate. But there’s a good chance it will feel good based on how good I feel right now,” John John added.

Referring to the accident he suffered in Brazil, the Hawaiian said that his mind was in the right place but his body was tired from the previous days. “In those cases your reaction time slows down. When I went down the wave, as I was doing a lot of aerials I thought about making a turn, but I had a lot of speed so I said to myself: 'I can't turn, I don't know what to do'. I ended up flying and the pressure of the wave pushed the board with my leg and hurt my knee. It was super painful, I was immediately thinking that I had injured my anterior cruciate ligament,” says John John.

Finally, regarding his decision to undergo surgery, he said that the possibility of returning to 100% outweighed all other scenarios that were presented to him.

In reference to Olympic surfing, he said that it is something he fully supports and that he would like the event to be held in Slater's pool. On the other hand, he explained that being present at the debut of surfing at the games will play a key role in being able to give his opinion on how to organize the second event, which will be held in Paris 2024 (if final confirmation is received).