On Day 3 of the Winter Olympics, America’s biggest victory might have come not on a frozen halfpipe in China, but in the warm waves of the Banzai Pipeline, thousands of miles away in Hawai’i.
The win belonged to Kelly Slater, the surfing great who turns 50 on Friday. Slater defeated a rider less than half his age to capture one of the sport’s iconic events, the Billabong Pro Pipeline near the renowned reef off of Oahu.
Now that he’s on top — again — Slater is starting to consider retirement. Nothing official, of course. Just thinking about it. For advice on the matter, Slater messaged with his buddy, Tom Brady, for a back-and-forth from one athlete dubbed the GOAT to another.
“It would be interesting if that happened in the same week,” Slater cracked in an interview with The Associated Press, on the possibility that he would retire on the heels of Brady’s announcement. “We’ll see how…
