Australia’s Jack Robinson has been forced to change the design of his surfboard ahead of his semi-final comp after he received a complaint from Team South Korea.
Per 9News’ Wide World of Sports, the Aussie Olympian was set to surf against Brazil’s Gabriel Medina — AKA that bloke with one of the coolest photos ever — on Sunday Morning (AEST). However, the semi-final was postponed due to a “lack of swell”.
But when Robinson finally takes to the surf, it’s been reported that the Australian surfer will be paddling out with a new board.
According to Reuters, the reason why was due to a complaint submitted by management from Team South Korea.
You see, the design on the Aussie Surfer’s board features a “rising sun” symbol, which is associated with imperial Japan — a time when Japan took control of Korea from 1910 until 1945.
Since then, the “rising sun” logo has since been adopted by late Hawaiian surfer Andy Irons.
In fact, in a now-deleted Instagram post which was shared on the 24th of July, Robinson said the board was “inspired by AI (Andy Irons)”.
Speaking to Reuters, Song Min, the team manager for South Korea’s surfing team, shared that he saw Robinson’s post prior to the commencement of the Olympic Games surfing tournament.
“I saw his post, thinking that board can’t be used because Olympics is a pure sports event,” Song told the publication.
“Eventually the South Korean Olympic team visited [its] Australian counterpart not to see that board during the Games.”
Song also acknowledged the new meaning behind the “rising sun” and its link to the late surfer Adam Irons, but states that the symbol can still hurt people who are trying to heal from its dark history.
“I do want to tell people that even if this design is chosen out of personal views, it can be embarrassing,” Song said.
“This isn’t about South Korea protesting but this is what invokes some people’s scars so it should be banned for use despite freedom of expression.”
Robinson’s board now featured a solid red base which hides the logo.
This isn’t the first time an Olympic surfer was forced to change their board ahead of the games. According to 9News’ Wide World of Sports Brazil’s João Chianca claimed he was told by Olympic officials to remove a design featuring the iconic Christ The Redeemer statue from his board and South Africa’s Jordy Smith was required to hide the logo of his surf brand sponsor.
The men’s Olympic Games surfing tournament’s semi-finals and the medal finals are expected to be rescheduled to Tuesday.
Image Source: AP / Gregory Bull
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