Carlos Munoz has a lot of red tape to get through. Photo: Dave Nelson/ISA
Costa Rican Carlos Munoz received the opportunity of a lifetime this week when Frederico Morais had to pull out of the Olympics due to a positive COVID test. Munoz, a gifted Central American surfer was notified by the ISA yesterday that he would be the replacement for Morais. The only problem? He had to fly all the way from Costa Rica to make it in time. Which is a giant ask given how much red tape there is to navigate once on the ground in Tokyo (trust me, I just went through it).
“He’s trying to make it,” the International Surfing Association’s Evan Quarnstrom told me today. “But I have no idea about his ETA. If we run Round 2 today, I doubt he’ll make it. Stay tuned.”
Munoz has a window of hope given that Round 1 is a non-elimination round. Round 2, of course is do or die. And there are only 20 men and 20 women so things are moving fast. But the wind isn’t perfect for this building typhoon swell so there’s a chance the ISA may hold off until tomorrow. ISA head Fernando Aguerre has said that the competition will only take four days.
Munoz is keeping everyone updated in his stories as he races across the globe to try and make the biggest competition of his life.
Yep, stay tuned. We’ll update.
Editor’s Note: Carlos unfortunately missed his Round 2 heat, which ran today. Watch the Olympic surfing competition live from Japan, here.