Kelly Slater: The surfing icon
There are a lot of reasons why the 39-year-old Robert Kelly Slater, more commonly known as Kelly Slater, puts one in a dilemma of whether to be inspired or burn with envy. For starters, he is phenomenal when it comes to surfing. He has dominated the sport
for nearly two decades and still hasn’t run out of gas.
Secondly, he has a reputation of possessing really good looks and has been tagged as the best looking athlete in the whole world by a popular sports magazine. Last but not the least, he has dated supermodels and actresses, which include the likes of Pamela
Anderson and Gisele Bundchen. With 10 Association of Surfing Professionals World Titles and 46 elite event victories to his name, many sports enthusiasts call Slater the greatest athlete of all time and compare him with the likes of Lance Armstrong and Michael
Jordan.
Slater was born to Steve and Judy on 11 February, 1972 in Cocoa Beach, Florida. He was 11 when his parents got divorced. While his mom remarried, his father died after losing a battle with lung cancer in 2002.
Growing up at the beach, he learned to surf together with his two older brothers, Sean and Stephen. He was just five years old when he got on his first surfboard. Just a few years later, he started to enter competitions. By the time he turned 11, he had
already gained the reputation of a formidable amateur competitor. After clinching his first United States Championship title in 1984, the young gun successfully defended his title for four consecutive years. The surf-wear industry giant, Quiksilver, started
sponsoring him by the time he turned 18.
The phenomenal surfer kicked off his rise to stardom in the early ‘90s. Just one year after making his debut in the ASP World Tour in 1991, Slater managed to claim his first ASP World Championship title to become the youngest world champion ever. To reach
the coveted pinnacle, he overcame the surfing heavy-weights such as Tom Carroll, Martin Potter and Derek Ho.
With a hiatus of one year, the surfer dominated the world tour for five consecutive years from 1994-98. After securing his sixth world title, Slater went on a semi-retirement for the next three years.
Returning to the main stage in 2002, he started chasing his seventh title while going against the likes of America’s Andy Irons and Australia’s Mick Fanning. After narrowly losing the title to Irons for three years, he finally got it in 2005. His eighth
title came the very next year and 2008 got him to his ninth. The legendary surfer, who already enjoyed the boasting rights of being the youngest world champion, earned himself his 10th world title in 2010 to become the oldest ASP World Champion
in history.
In the same year, The United States House of Representatives unanimously passed the H.Res 792 to honour Slater for his exceptional performance in surfing and contribution towards the progression of the sport.
Undoubtedly the best competitive surfer of all time, Slater has found himself attracting swarm of media over the years. However, they were not always interested in his career, focusing instead on his personal relationships and other aspects of his private
life.
In addition to his huge impact in the surfing world, the “bald and beautiful” surfer is also known for his keenness and effort to give something back to the society through his foundations such as Life Rolls On, SurfAid and a few others.
Known for his competitive prowess and style, Slater has helped to take surfing to an entirely new level. His outstanding performances and accomplishments have influenced and inspired generations of surfers. Merely calling him a surfing icon seems to be an
understatement.
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