American John John Florence eyes Olympic gold before retiring at end of year

LAS VEGAS — The North Shore has always been his backyard, so John John Florence learned early the nasty nuances of a vicious left by surfing, and mastering, the Banzai Pipeline.

Now 31 and retiring at the end of 2024, in which he’s gunning for a third world title, the Paris Olympics appear at a poetic time for Florence.

No, he won’t be riding a mechanical wave in some Parisian arrondissement. Instead, he’ll be competing on the other side of the world at Teahupo’o (pronounced CHO-poo), off Tahiti in French Polynesia.

A direct 22-hour flight covers the 9,800 miles, costing a mere €1,200 for Frenchmen to view their surfing event in person.

“Chopes,” as surfers call it, is another vicious left with shallow coral reefs that create consistent-but-steep barrels, plus a bowl below the general water surface, funkiness that can be lethal.

Its English translation is “to sever the head,” and it was first surfed in 1985. During tour events, the judges’ tower has collapsed more than once. It killed Tahitian surfer Brice Taerea in 2000.

It’s also the screen-saver photo on my lap-top, deep azure, cerulean and Egyptian blues with teal swaths inside a V-lipped barrel that allows surfers to knife left or right.

At +350, or risk $100 to win $350, at DraftKings, we’re picking John John to defeat 23 foes and claim summertime gold.

Florence delivered sweet returns when we backed only him to win “The Eddie” Aikau Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational, at Waimea Bay on the North Shore, in February 2016.

Since 1985, that was the ninth of 10 times the prestigious event, named after the late Hawaiian legend, has been staged. Waimea must meet impressive minimum standards for Eddie invitations to be sent.

True sport

I’m definitely stoked to be writing about surfing, as “Endless Summer,” “Big Wednesday,” “Point Break,” “Step into Liquid” and “Chasing Mavericks” are all regular-rotation DVDs.

Hemingway said bullfighting, motor racing and mountaineering, all of which could turn deadly in a heartbeat, are the only true sports. He wrote, “All the rest are merely games.”

Surfing, we submit, should be fourth on Papa’s list, considering what awaits at Waimea Bay, Nazaré in Portugal, Jaws in Maui, Mavericks in Northern California and Cortes Bank, 100 miles off the Southern California coast.

Chopes is regularly listed among the world’s top-10 deadliest waves. For the Olympics, John John’s younger brother Nathan, via the site BeachGrit, forecasts 6- to 8-footers, with rogue 10-footers, “which is [bleeping] epic.”

In a recent regional Queensland newspaper, Aussie surfer Bede Durbidge said, “Somebody could die in the Olympics.”

Betting on the Olympics isn’t for amateurs, either. It had been legal in Nevada until 2001, when politicos, especially the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, tried to ban amateur-sports wagering. Nevada sacrificed the Olympics as a compromise.

That lasted till 2015, when the Nevada Gaming Commission approved betting on the Summer and Winter Games to allow the Silver State to compete with worldwide markets.

Since May 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to pursue their own sports-betting fates, 38 states (plus Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico) now have legal sports betting.

In Las Vegas books, however, menus for the Olympics are more akin to a tabletop placard offering several happy-hour appetizers.

The Westgate SuperBook has medal counts, plus indoor volleyball, water polo, rugby sevens, handball and men’s and women’s hoops and soccer. The South Point lists those last two, and Circa Sports also has minimal offerings.

Same, too, at BetMGM, according to director of trading Lamarr Mitchell: “We’ll have some smaller items up for the Olympics. But there won’t be a lot of interest, from a betting perspective.”

Deep DraftKings options

Olympic props at DraftKings are deep and many. And since Illinois is one of the 18 states in which the company operates, we’ve scoured that menu to unearth potential value plays.

In indoor volleyball, we favor Brazil. The men (+800 at DraftKings), who won gold in 2016, have finished first or second in six of the last 10 Olympics. In three of the last four, its women (+475) have taken gold or silver.

Latvia, victors in three-on-three men’s hoops in Japan three years ago, is an intriguing +550 to win gold in Paris. And in rugby sevens, Fiji, attempting a men’s three-peat, is an enticing +650.

(Odds subject to change.)

In water polo, one of the safest wagers might be the U.S. women, who have struck gold at the last three Olympics. They are -250 (risk $250 to win $100) and worth the premium.

In the men’s competition, Serbia has won the last two Olympiads and is an enviable 14-to-1 (20-1 at the SuperBook in Vegas) to win. They feature scorer Dušan Mandic, captain/defender Nikola Jakšic and top keeper Branislav Mitrovic.

Surfing is scheduled to stage its gold-medal heats at Teahupo’o on Tuesday. We beam about John John, but the fact is that the star of these entire Olympics might not be a singular athlete, a relay team or multiplayer squad.

Teahupo’o is preparing to take its bows, plus an encore or two.