Surfing's Olympic ringmaster Aguerre readies for the next wave

TEAHUPO'O, Tahiti : Fernando Aguerre says that when he was first elected president of the International Surfing Association in 1994, the organisation consisted of a cardboard box and a cheque.

Thirty years on, the Argentine is now making preparations to pass the torch to a new leader, having built the ISA into a body representing 116 countries and achieving the improbable goal of taking surfing to the Olympics.

"When I got (elected) it was literally a cardboard box like this, with papers and a $5,000 cheque, so I was like, 'I can't go wrong, because ... I'm already at ground zero!'" Aguerre told Reuters.

    Having sold the footwear company he set up with his brother for a sum reported to be in the region of $100 million, Aguerre works pro bono.

    "I don't make money - I'm free, so I'm a good deal," he laughed when asked about stepping down.

"I pushed for a new bylaw in the constitution that will preclude me from running after 2026, so 2026 will be my last - in the current constitution I won't be able to run after that.

    "Two or three" succession plans are in place but Aguerre hopes to retain some kind of role.   

    "I think it's better I take more of a head advisor or, like I like to call myself, head cheerleader," he added.

"I enjoy sitting down with people like this, kind of passing the spiritual and cultural torch of the sport.

    "So I might make it to (the) Brisbane (Olympics), maybe. Maybe the sharks will take me before that."

SHIRTS AND SHAKAS    

    Often sporting a Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat or a bow tie and sometimes all three, the irrepressible 66-year-old still surfs most days.

In Tahiti, a couple of days before the Olympics opened, he packed his family into a van and headed to a nearby black sand beach