Climb to a wooden platform on the beachfront, with its telephoto lente pointing to the Pacific, to the Japanese photographer Nozomi, which is least interested in the second round of Surf classification of the Olympic Games of Tokyo is, precisely, surfing.
Do not look for images of surfers riding waves with incredible maneuvers on the table. It does not matter. It has not been raised at five o'clock in the morning, nor has almost 100 kilometers been done by bus from Tokyo for that. She is on the Tsurigasaki beach, on the east coast of Japan, to take pictures of Ramzi Boukhiam.
In the Tokyo 2020 chips, Ramzi appears as a prominent Moroccan surfer, one of the bearers of the Kingdom of Mohamed VI during the opening ceremony. But for the eyes and goal of the Nozomi camera, more than surfer, Ramzi is a sex Symbol to which he has to take handsome in the photos because the Japanese pink press demanded on his pages as one of the most attractive athletes of the Games: Moreno, 1.85 tall, 85 kilos, honey-colored hooks and eyes.
"It was a boyfriend of Rihanna," releases the photographer. In 2017, an image came out in which Ramzi took a loving bath in a jacuzzi with the famous singer. The lace of "ex boyfriend" puts it Nozomi. "Look at him Instagram, he is an incredible man, I would like him to peak for me, interview him and ask him if he now has a girlfriend," she adds.
Shortboard is the surf discipline of these Tokyo 2020 games, where 20 men and 20 women compete for medals. The Moroccan test (27 years), with a father Agadir and Mother of Amsterdam, reaches noon. It does not happen more than half an hour in the water while a committee of five judges scores the pirouettes in its two best waves based on the degree of difficulty, speed and power. The Ramzi note is 7.53. She has stayed out of the quarterfinals.
Nozomi follows his own: "Yes, I have made good photos. Look at this one, the strong thing that comes out before getting into the water".
Surfers appreciate that the wind blow stronger on the second day of a sport that on Sunday debuted in Olympic Games on the beach of Tsurigasaki, in the city of Ichinomiya.
Surf has been responsible for a phenomenon not seen for decades in Japan: a small town with a demographic rebound. Since the 2000s, in Ichinomiya, new surf stores have not stopped, restaurants and hotels and hotels to welcome the 600,000 visitors arriving each year. More all who end up staying.
"The thunderous reefs and the constant flow of waves towards the coast from three different directions, make this area a mecca among surfers in Japan," says a note from the Japansurf website.
Although the beach with the best waves is located in Fukushima. Although it has been open for two years after a long closure by the accident at the Nuclear Power Plant, the organization of the Games did not dare to move the surf headquarters to the prefecture that has been carrying a decade with the radioactive threat backpack.
Removing the gray sand and the clean environment of buildings in the surroundings, the beach of Tsurigasaki has an air to the San Sebastian shell. The volunteers of the organization of the games do not cease to approach the accredited press less than 50 meters from the water where surfers are. The journalists end the chronicle of the day stuck in the huge tent that does the functions of the press center, where there are nine screens to follow the tests live.
What is the point of eating almost two hours of travel to finish watching surfing on television? "By Anti Covid Protocols, the organization has put the press gallery much further away from the normal edge, but you have to come because then it is the press conference of those who pass to the semifinals," explains an Italian journalist specializing in surf.
Outside the tent, Japanese workers and volunteers immediately call everyone who walks on the beach with the badly set mask. They are frightened because this new cases of Covid-19 related to the Olympic Games have been informed of 16 Monday. Also restless for the typhoon that is about to arrive from the Pacific.
They have called Nepartak, in honor of a famous Kosrae warrior, an island of Micronesia. The Meteorological Agency of Japan says that Nepartak could bring this week winds up to 126 km per hour. More wind, larger waves for the joy of surfers. Although the typhoons are common in Japan, you do not have to be trusted. Last year, one called Maysak, rammed the south of Asian country, sinking a ship with 43 crew and 5,800 cows on board.
The day on the beach of Tsurigasaki ends with the great favorite favorites for quarterfinals: the four-time Women's World Champion, Carissa Moore, and John John Florence, twice male world champion, both originally from Hawaii. As well as Brazilians Gabriel Medina e Italo Ferreira.
The Moroccan Ramzi Boukhiam returns home. At least, after the persecution with the photographer camera Nozomi, he will make sure to have a hole on the podium of the most beautiful athletes of Tokyo Olympics.
Date Of Update: 26 July 2021, 20:40
