Raw File - Ramzi Boukhiam

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Okay, we're on.

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So again, born and raised around the points, best waves, definitely in Africa.

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So tell me, how did it all start?

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Well, first of all, it started in Agadir, down south of Morocco.

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That's the city where I was living with my brother, my dad and my mom.

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I went to school there and stuff.

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That's where I grew up.

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And my dad used to take us a lot to the beach, me, my brother, even my mom.

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Because he used to love fishing.

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He was fishing a lot, my dad.

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So we would always be around, you know, the sea and at the beach all day.

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And I started standing up on a boogie board.

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Honestly, I was starting, you know, I was doing boogie board a lot.

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And I was just hanging out playing soccer on the beach.

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Just spending the whole day at the beach, right?

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And my brother, my older brother started surfing before me.

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And then he was like, man, you should try surfing or not.

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and i tried after like i think a year or something or even more of boogie i tried

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and i don't know i just clicked really fast i guess and then uh yeah and then we

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went to to walidia to surf land it's the surf camp where i like pretty much

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everything started for me where laurent miramont kind of like you know saw i guess

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the potential i had from from the start and told my parents like your maybe your

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kid has some you know have something special in the in this sport and

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But I was playing soccer, too, on the side.

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Soccer was my main thing, you know?

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And I loved soccer, and I was pretty good at it.

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And then my dad came to me after, like, I think six months.

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He was like, what do you want to do?

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You want to go soccer or surfing?

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And I just went surfing, and I quit soccer.

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It was pretty hard, honestly, because I loved it.

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But I guess I loved surfing more, and...

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So I kept going a lot to surf land.

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Every holiday, every school holiday, I was there.

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It's up north.

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It's like close to Casablanca, Guadalajara.

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Super nice place to surf and to learn.

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And you have every type of waves, too.

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I loved it there.

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Just being around kids too, it was amazing memories, the time I had in Surfland.

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And then not even a year after I started, maybe less, I did my first contest in 2003 in Mohamedia.

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It used to be the Gromit's Trophy, which is, I think, the king of the Groms now.

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Back then it was called the Gromit's Trophy.

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And they had like a contest, I guess, in every place in the world.

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And the final would be in Cap Breton in France with all the best of each region.

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And I won in under 12 and came second in under 14 for my first contest ever in Morocco.

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So I won my ticket to go there.

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But my dad thought I was too young.

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So I never won the first year.

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And then the second year I went.

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And that's how I clicked with Quicksilver as well.

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And that's where my story with Quicksilver started.

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And I went there and everyone was baffled because I was a little shrimp, man.

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I was so skinny, so small back then.

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And when I got there, the Quicksilver guy said to Laurent, man, what's this kid you just sent us?

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Are you kidding me?

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What is he going to do?

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And I ended up...

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I ended up finishing fifth in this contest back then with John.

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Everyone was there,

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all the best,

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Garrett Parks,

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Tamaro Amakum,

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Christophe Aldecol,

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Peter San Crisanto,

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all the boys,

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Wiggily.

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I did that,

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so my story started with Quickie,

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and then I was still living in Morocco,

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so I would go back to Morocco for the school,

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and on holidays,

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especially the summer holidays,

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I would go to France and do the contests.

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during the two months of summer.

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And then, unfortunately, in 2005, I lost my dad.

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So that was a very tough part for me and for my family.

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Unexpected, you know.

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So that was very hard.

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And we decided to move in 2007.

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So two years after, we decided to move to Biarritz.

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and I mean we wanted to move anyway from Morocco because school was pretty

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expensive in Morocco and in France it's free right so and we went to this region

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because you know I had surfing and I could continue and maybe you know do something

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with it there so I went to surf school I was at school and surfing in the afternoon

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and and I feel like that's a big you know like

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critical point of my surfing journey.

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I feel like,

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I'm not saying if I stayed in Morocco,

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it would have been,

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you know,

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I would have never made it this far,

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but maybe,

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you know,

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because you get into a whole other thing there,

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you know,

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you surf pretty much every day,

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and,

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you know,

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you're around the best in Europe,

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you know,

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so you're surfing,

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you know,

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with good guys in the water,

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so you're pushing your level up and stuff,

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and...

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And yeah, just surfing a lot.

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And then you're just in the scene, you know, back then Europe was big, you know, in surfing.

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And you're in the scene, you're in the, you know, the sponsor scene too.

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So you're not all the way in Morocco by yourself, you know.

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So yeah, that was the thing.

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That was the thing.

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And then,

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yeah,

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and then first QSs and then boom,

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longer few years on the QS to finally qualify last year,

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two years ago,

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yeah.

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Let me just rewind for a second.

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You said it,

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you lost your dad,

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and I actually have a question around,

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not so much about the death of your father,

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but more about moving to France as a teenager.

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Obviously,

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it was a pretty difficult time,

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but in hindsight,

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do you think that move to Europe was a blessing in disguise?

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Because you said it before, right?

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The surf industry in France in particular is huge,

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and it sort of put you on the map for the rest of the world.

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Yeah, 100%.

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Like I said,

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you know,

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of course,

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especially the first year,

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bro,

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it was very tough because it's a whole thing.

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You know, you're still a kid.

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You know, I was 12.

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I was 12.

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You lose your dad.

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You're like, wow, you have your life.

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You have your friends.

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You have...

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You know, the climate in Morocco is, you know, it's nothing compared to the French one in the winter.

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So, you know, there's a whole, there's so many things that come into this, you know.

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But in the other side,

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you know,

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it's a good thing in terms of me growing up,

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you know,

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I had to grow up faster.

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Me and my brother, that's it, you know.

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In Morocco, you have everyone, you have...

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the woman to cook the woman to clean the you know your clothes so you we have we

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are really lucky in morocco you know and uh to be there in apartment with my mom

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working from from 8 or 7 30 a.m till like 6 p.m every single day and us you know me

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and my brother we had to like okay oh

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There's no one here, you know what I mean?

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Cooked dinner.

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My mom wanted to share lunch,

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but my mom was doing,

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man,

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that's why my mom is special,

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to be honest,

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because she was solid.

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I would have never been able to do anything.

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I mean, I don't even know how she did, you know, working.

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this hard you know losing her husband and switching all of a sudden and just

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committing to something some new life just for the for our kids pretty much that's

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it sacrifice everything for our kids is huge you know and uh and uh i've now we've

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been hard on her with two sometimes you know you know it's that age you know but

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with now now as i'm older you know i think about it and

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I feel like sometimes it could have been nicer, you know, but we have a really special connection.

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My mom is everything, my brother too, you know, like crazy.

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I feel like when something like that happens to you, it's another bound, you know, it's like deep.

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You cannot understand until it happens to you.

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I'm not wishing this to anyone, but especially, you know, and moving to France, yeah, it was...

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I had to, you know, I had to go to school on the motorbike alone with my brother.

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We had to, you know, cook lunch.

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So you become responsible.

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How do you say in English?

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That's how you say it?

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Yeah, responsible.

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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And you adapt yourself to a new thing, new life, new friends, new everything.

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So I had a few, you know, I had a few friends that I knew from, you know, the contest and stuff, but...

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But I ended up making a lot of friends there, and it's fully my second home there, you know.

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I loved it.

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And my mom still lives there most part of the year, and I go there too a lot.

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So it became a really, yeah, it became home pretty much, you know.

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And for sure it forced me into the surfer that I am today,

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you know,

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surfing there and,

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you know,

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having those difficult moments in winter when you never want to go in the water.

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It's fantastic.

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freezing it's cold it's shitty but you gotta go and you go push through you push

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through and i feel like this if you don't go through this stuff this type of stuff

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you're never gonna reach the level you want i guess no absolutely your mom is dutch

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right yeah my mom is fully dutch yeah

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So I was wondering, you know, you have all these different influences beating in your chest, right?

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So your mom's Dutch.

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You grew up in Morocco.

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You lived your teenage years in France.

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So...

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Was there ever a conversation to represent maybe, you know, Holland or France?

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For me, it was clear from the start.

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I mean, I wouldn't even think about it, you know, but the situation came up, huh?

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I could have served for Holland and even for France.

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They wanted me to serve for them at some point,

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but my mom knew,

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like,

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no way,

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you know,

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like,

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it's not because I don't like France or something.

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It's just that I'm Moroccan, bro.

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You know what I mean?

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Of course.

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I'm Dutch, too, in my blood.

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But it's different, you know, man.

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When you're pretty much born and grew up in Morocco and stuff, this is home, you know what I mean?

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When I travel everywhere in the world,

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when I land in Morocco and I put my foot outside,

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there's a different feeling,

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like I'm home here.

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You know what I mean?

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It's special.

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So, yeah, for me, it was clear, not even a doubt.

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I'm not even thinking about this kind of stuff, you know what I mean?

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Yeah.

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No, I mean, you're part of serve royalty now, right?

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Like people look up to you, they use you as a reference.

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I mean, you know, in the industry, people say you have the best backend in the world.

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So people use you, use you as a reference point, you know?

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So I wonder when you grew up, you said, you know, your dad and your brother

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They were your influence.

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But,

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like,

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I wonder if there's anybody,

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you know,

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around the points of Tagazou or anywhere else that sort of,

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like,

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took you under their wing and sort of showed you the ropes.

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Yeah, I mean, there's a few locals, you know, in Morocco, a few older surfers.

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that I grew up, you know, watching them, you know, especially at Anchor Point.

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When I was going to Anchor Point, it was big.

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I was scared.

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I was sitting on the rock watching.

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I mean, big.

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Back then, for me, it was big.

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And no, it was pretty big, you know.

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But I was like, wow.

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And I was watching a few locals that rip, you know.

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Especially, you know, like there's a few names.

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Karim Elbihi, he was a goofy footer.

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He had a sick backhand.

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I feel like he had the sickest style.

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I watched him a lot.

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There's a lot of locals, you know.

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Zuhir from Anchor Point, Christophe Chemsdine.

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There's a whole crew, you know, of all the guys.

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And when we were small, Kamel, Kamel Herboula as well, you know.

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and then laurent miramont you have laurent miramont was pretty much my my mentor

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you know the one i told you from north surf he's the one who really like took me

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and you know said to my parents like your kid have something and pushed me you know

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pushed me into like into surfing deeply you know and uh so yeah he was my biggest

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mentor but there's a few guys you know and then growing up with ott man and other

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friends you know there's other guys like

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Lou,

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we,

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we had a nice little crew,

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Ali,

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you know,

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we had nice little crew of best friends that we would go surf there,

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you know,

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surf and,

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uh,

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and push each other,

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you know,

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push each other.

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Yeah, for sure.

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You spent 10 years on the,

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on the QS,

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just grinding it out and you came close to qualifying a few times,

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but for some reason just never really eventuated until,

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um,

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I think it was 2023.

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Yeah.

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Was that right?

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Yeah.

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So talk to me about life on the QS.

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Like how tough was it mentally and physically,

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you know,

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to first,

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A,

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you know,

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grinding it out for so long and B,

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coming,

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you know,

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coming so close to qualifying a few times.

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Yeah.

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I mean, it's tough, you know, but, you know, it's a journey, bro.

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You know, it's a journey and QS is hard.

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Honestly, it's very hard.

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I feel like it's the jungle.

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Because, man, people rip.

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No, it's futile.

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People rip.

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Like, everyone rips.

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And conditions are really hard.

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And, man, you can easily, I mean, you can easily get into, you know.

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And even me, like, I feel like I could have done.

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Sorry.

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No, no, no.

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Okay, man.

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Like I said, we can just cut things out.

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Wait, wait.

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One second, huh?

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No, don't worry.

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Yeah.

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So I was telling you, QS is hard, man.

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It's like,

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it's a jungle,

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but you can easily,

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you know,

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it's like,

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I feel like I could have qualified earlier as well.

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You know,

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is that,

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you know,

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you,

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you do your little mistakes,

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you know,

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you do your little road,

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you know,

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you,

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you know,

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you,

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you,

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you learn,

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you learn while,

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you know,

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on the road and it's a it's a whole thing you know and yeah it took me 10 years i

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could have done it earlier i'm pretty sure but uh that was it that was my journey

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that was how it was supposed to happen and uh and uh it's hard man honestly it's

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hard i had a few times where i wanted to stop to be honest especially one time i

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feel like it was yeah 2019 i really wanted to stop i was feeling like pretty

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Yeah, pretty much depressed, honestly.

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I was bummed.

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I didn't want to surf anymore.

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I said it to my coach back then.

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I told him, yeah, I'm done.

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I'm really done.

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I don't want it anymore.

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I don't feel good.

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I don't feel happy.

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He told me that was right before the qualification of the first Olympics.

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It was in 2019.

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And he told me, Hamzy, look, give me these four events, four next events.

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And then if you don't want to go to Hawaii, you don't go to Hawaii.

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And then you stop.

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That's it.

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Just give me that.

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And in those four events, it was the Miyazaki contest, the qualification for Tokyo in Japan, right?

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So yeah, first contest, uh, we go boom, uh, Pantene boom.

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I'm surfing great in free surf.

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I feel great.

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Boom.

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I lose first round with two, three points.

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I'm like, wow.

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I'm like, this is it.

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This is like,

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this is putting me even,

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you know,

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I'm,

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I'm even,

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I'm like more sure about quitting now,

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you know?

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And then we go to Japan and I get there.

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I don't know what I have to do to qualify.

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Honestly, I don't expect anything.

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I'm at the lowest in my career.

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I just wanted to surf.

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That's it.

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And I got there and I ended up qualifying for Tokyo.

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And that was the switching point.

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I was like, wow.

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I didn't realize, but when I came home and I saw the buzz, the whole thing that was happening,

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yeah like wow actually you know there's a lot of people looking up to you and

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supporting you you know like a lot you cannot do this you know like wake up and and

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it gave me a i don't know like a fresh you know breathing again yeah and it was

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like your it was like your natural antidepressant no like to to see right but the

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two contests after that i lost first round as well you know i was like what

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But was that easier to lose because you knew you qualified?

(00:15:50):
No, it was easier.

(00:15:51):
It was easier because I qualified for the Olympics.

(00:15:53):
It was the first time in the history.

(00:15:54):
It was a huge ball, Morocco, you know, everything was happening.

(00:15:57):
So it was easier for sure.

(00:15:59):
But I knew that I still, you know, I was still there because I had qualification.

(00:16:04):
It was pretty much all the best, all the best in the world.

(00:16:08):
And I was with them, you know, fighting for it.

(00:16:10):
for the top spots.

(00:16:12):
And I was like, you can do this.

(00:16:14):
Come on, like, this is a proof, you know?

(00:16:16):
And after the next year, so 2020, first contest, I go to Brazil, I win.

(00:16:22):
Boom.

(00:16:22):
Five stars.

(00:16:23):
I'm like, wow, this is big.

(00:16:25):
This is it.

(00:16:26):
That's it.

(00:16:26):
It's a switching point for me.

(00:16:27):
I'm on, you know?

(00:16:28):
And then COVID.

(00:16:29):
Boom.

(00:16:30):
COVID comes.

(00:16:31):
Then it stops me again in my thing.

(00:16:33):
No contests.

(00:16:34):
Boom.

(00:16:34):
I'm like, oh, la, la.

(00:16:36):
You know, everyone had a hard time.

(00:16:38):
In COVID, I'm like, wow, this was my momentum switch.

(00:16:41):
And now, you know, again, we're going through some weird phases, you know.

(00:16:45):
But I was like, no, no, no.

(00:16:48):
It's happening.

(00:16:48):
In this next year or two, you're in.

(00:16:51):
That's it.

(00:16:51):
I don't know.

(00:16:52):
Something clicked, you know.

(00:16:54):
And it's true that I made way more sacrifices as well than before when I was younger.

(00:16:59):
And I just committed.

(00:17:00):
I committed to it fully.

(00:17:02):
Yeah.

(00:17:03):
i knew what i had to do after all these years the experience i knew the mistakes

(00:17:07):
i've done many times many times you know i was like okay just boom control all that

(00:17:12):
and do your best and give your best until the end not for months or two until the

(00:17:17):
end and then if it doesn't happen well it doesn't happen but at least no regrets

(00:17:21):
you know and i did it and i qualified right there so

(00:17:25):
Yeah, I actually want to talk about that.

(00:17:26):
Like you qualified in 2004 to 2023 season, right?

(00:17:30):
And then you had this like season ending injury in Hawaii.

(00:17:35):
And was that one of the toughest moments in your life?

(00:17:39):
Or was that also like a moment where you're like, you know what?

(00:17:42):
I'm done.

(00:17:42):
Like, again, I'm at this point.

(00:17:45):
You know,

(00:17:45):
it was,

(00:17:46):
I swear that,

(00:17:47):
I mean,

(00:17:47):
it was the,

(00:17:48):
I mean,

(00:17:48):
it's the one of the toughest thing that can happen to an athlete,

(00:17:51):
I guess,

(00:17:52):
you know,

(00:17:52):
the way it happened to me,

(00:17:53):
especially when you know my journey,

(00:17:54):
right?

(00:17:55):
But I feel like the moment I told you in 2019, I was way more depressed and sure about being done.

(00:18:02):
I was like, wow, this is it.

(00:18:03):
I wasn't feeling good at all.

(00:18:05):
But when that happened in Hawaii, man, you see, the life is crazy, bro.

(00:18:10):
It's a roller coaster because, look, I just qualified.

(00:18:12):
I just had the best year of my life, right?

(00:18:14):
I was in Hawaii.

(00:18:15):
Boom, I took a flight.

(00:18:17):
Boom, went all the way to Qatar to watch the World Cup.

(00:18:19):
Morocco has the best World Cup in the history.

(00:18:23):
I'm having a crazy time.

(00:18:24):
All Moroccans are, you know, united.

(00:18:27):
It's crazy time for sports in Morocco, you know, Moroccan sports.

(00:18:30):
And then one month later, I go to Hawaii before the first event of my dream since I'm a kid.

(00:18:37):
Boom, I break my ankle.

(00:18:38):
Biggest injury I've had in my whole career.

(00:18:40):
In a month, farts, you know?

(00:18:42):
It's crazy.

(00:18:44):
So you go from the highs of highs to the lows of lows.

(00:18:46):
And I was like, no, I couldn't believe it was happening to me.

(00:18:49):
When it happened under the water, I was like, no, no.

(00:18:52):
I knew it was serious.

(00:18:53):
Like, did you know instantly that something was wrong?

(00:18:56):
Yeah, it cracked.

(00:18:57):
I thought I broke my leg.

(00:18:59):
But then I was like, I knew it was something wrong.

(00:19:02):
I knew it, but I couldn't believe.

(00:19:04):
I didn't want to believe it.

(00:19:07):
So I tried even,

(00:19:07):
man,

(00:19:08):
I had five ruptured ligaments and I tried to put my foot in a boot for 10 days and

(00:19:14):
like thinking,

(00:19:15):
I'm surfing pipe.

(00:19:16):
I was like, no, I'm doing it.

(00:19:18):
And when I went to France, I showed the guy, the surgeon, he's like, man, what were you thinking, bro?

(00:19:23):
Like,

(00:19:24):
Your ankle is gone, man.

(00:19:26):
You need a big surgery.

(00:19:27):
Like, no way you can serve.

(00:19:29):
No way.

(00:19:30):
And I, but I, you know, it was, it was just hard to swallow.

(00:19:33):
But then I feel like,

(00:19:35):
and that's why you have to be strong as an athlete,

(00:19:37):
because then you cannot get into that,

(00:19:39):
that phase of,

(00:19:40):
you know,

(00:19:41):
questioning everything and going dark and deep into the bad thoughts,

(00:19:45):
you know,

(00:19:45):
like,

(00:19:46):
wow,

(00:19:46):
why me?

(00:19:47):
Why is this happening to me?

(00:19:48):
What did I do?

(00:19:48):
Blah, blah, blah.

(00:19:49):
of course they go through your mind i'm not lying i would be lying if i said no but

(00:19:54):
you have to be stronger and able to you know get rid of those stuff and start

(00:20:00):
switching process okay what i have to do to to recover and to be back there when i

(00:20:04):
was like 10 days ago what do you do to get back yeah position

(00:20:10):
Yeah,

(00:20:10):
I remember that time,

(00:20:11):
actually,

(00:20:11):
when you injured yourself and then the talk was,

(00:20:17):
oh,

(00:20:18):
he's out of the water for a bit,

(00:20:20):
but he might surf the event,

(00:20:23):
right?

(00:20:23):
And I think they called up, I think it was Carlos Munoz, no?

(00:20:27):
That was your replacement for that event?

(00:20:31):
They called him up like 24 hours before the event started.

(00:20:34):
And I was like, oh, so it's, you know, because...

(00:20:38):
They sort of,

(00:20:39):
like,

(00:20:39):
talked about it as,

(00:20:39):
oh,

(00:20:39):
it's just a little,

(00:20:41):
you know,

(00:20:41):
it's just a little injury,

(00:20:42):
but he'll be back kind of thing,

(00:20:43):
right?

(00:20:44):
And then when they called up Carlos, I was like, oh, so it is worse than what they said.

(00:20:50):
But I,

(00:20:51):
like,

(00:20:51):
I never actually thought about until the diagnosis was public,

(00:20:55):
you know,

(00:20:56):
what actually happened.

(00:20:57):
I thought, okay, no, he'll be back.

(00:20:59):
And then also,

(00:20:59):
like,

(00:21:00):
through the whole season,

(00:21:01):
everybody was,

(00:21:01):
oh,

(00:21:02):
yeah,

(00:21:02):
Carlos is going to serve the next event,

(00:21:04):
but Ramsey will be back.

(00:21:06):
and then exactly yeah yeah yeah because man you know like i told you you want to

(00:21:10):
believe until you know until the surgeon comes and says man this is it you're going

(00:21:15):
to the operation like especially with the cut it's like boom you know it's five

(00:21:20):
events i knew i was done right there but um but yeah like i told you you have to

(00:21:25):
switch into that

(00:21:27):
Thinking like,

(00:21:28):
what do you have to,

(00:21:30):
I guess,

(00:21:30):
figure it out and find a way to be stronger than that and believe that sentence

(00:21:36):
that everyone says,

(00:21:38):
everything happens for a reason and you'll come stronger out of that.

(00:21:42):
You have to believe that.

(00:21:43):
It's hard sometimes because you're like, this is bullshit.

(00:21:47):
But when you fully try to believe it and commit to it,

(00:21:54):
i feel like it helps a lot i mean it helped me a lot and uh and look i i thought i

(00:21:58):
was gonna be three or four months injury and man it's been nine months and i'm

(00:22:02):
still having a little problems with my ankle i mean i i'm surfing good and stuff

(00:22:06):
but it's not like 100 perfect you know so um so yeah it's a long journey and i took

(00:22:11):
this whole year off i didn't try to squeeze a few challengers here and there

(00:22:15):
knowing i was at 60 65 i wanted to take some time off for my body for my mind to

(00:22:21):
heal properly and

(00:22:22):
and come back in this year in 2024 i'm hoping to have a crack on the city because i

(00:22:28):
fully think i mean i think i deserve it after all all i've done and um and i feel

(00:22:33):
like i yeah i mean i deserve to have a shot you know and uh it's not meant to be

(00:22:39):
bro it's not meant to be and i'll go back to the challenger and

(00:22:42):
and try to kick some ass there and qualify again because I know how to do it now.

(00:22:45):
And I know I can beat these guys,

(00:22:48):
you know,

(00:22:49):
when I'm switched on and when I do the right thing and everything clicks.

(00:22:52):
I know I can beat a lot of them, maybe all of them.

(00:22:56):
So I just need to believe it and push, you know.

(00:23:00):
Actually, I want to talk about, you said it, you know, you deserve a shot at the World Tour or at the CT.

(00:23:09):
Do you think you should have gotten the injury wildcard?

(00:23:11):
Yeah, I think so, 100%.

(00:23:12):
Honestly, I think I should have.

(00:23:14):
But it's,

(00:23:15):
you know,

(00:23:15):
it's a hard one too,

(00:23:16):
you know,

(00:23:16):
because there's,

(00:23:17):
you know,

(00:23:18):
you have some pioneers,

(00:23:19):
you know,

(00:23:20):
some guys like Kelly,

(00:23:21):
the GOAT,

(00:23:22):
you know,

(00:23:22):
and you have Miguel and Yari,

(00:23:24):
you know,

(00:23:24):
they've been on tour for years,

(00:23:26):
you know,

(00:23:26):
so it's hard to say they don't deserve it too,

(00:23:28):
you know.

(00:23:29):
But I feel like just,

(00:23:30):
you know,

(00:23:31):
yeah,

(00:23:31):
the context,

(00:23:32):
you know,

(00:23:32):
my,

(00:23:33):
you know,

(00:23:33):
what I've done to get there,

(00:23:35):
well,

(00:23:35):
you know,

(00:23:36):
I didn't get to serve one single hit,

(00:23:38):
one single wave,

(00:23:38):
you know,

(00:23:39):
and

(00:23:40):
And I had the worst injury out of them all, you know, so I fully deserve my wild card, that's for sure.

(00:23:48):
Like I said,

(00:23:49):
bro,

(00:23:49):
if you start getting into those thoughts,

(00:23:50):
man,

(00:23:52):
you know,

(00:23:52):
you're going to go into some bad vibes,

(00:23:55):
bad mood.

(00:23:56):
I try to.

(00:23:58):
Yeah,

(00:23:58):
I mean,

(00:23:58):
on a lighter note,

(00:23:59):
you do have,

(00:24:00):
I mean,

(00:24:01):
you are a replacement surfer for the 2024 season,

(00:24:04):
right?

(00:24:05):
So how is that actually?

(00:24:08):
How do you think about this?

(00:24:09):
Like,

(00:24:10):
are you,

(00:24:10):
because I'm sure one side of you goes,

(00:24:13):
well,

(00:24:13):
I don't want anybody to get injured,

(00:24:15):
but at the same time,

(00:24:16):
I would love to have a crack at it.

(00:24:18):
I know, I know.

(00:24:19):
It's a weird one.

(00:24:19):
Exactly.

(00:24:20):
You don't want anyone to get injured, you know?

(00:24:23):
It's everybody, you know?

(00:24:24):
You want everyone to be healthy and have a good life.

(00:24:27):
Yeah.

(00:24:28):
pretty much my only chance is someone you know someone getting hurt or I don't know

(00:24:32):
someone you know retiring or someone who doesn't want to compete for I don't know I

(00:24:37):
don't know what reason but yeah that's pretty much my my situation right now I told

(00:24:42):
you in Abu Dhabi you should have kicked Kelly's um hip you know that would have

(00:24:46):
been your shot a good time in Abu Dhabi but uh

(00:24:50):
no you know man like i told you if it's meant to happen it will happen you know of

(00:24:54):
course you know my thought you know i i fully i fully think i deserve it to be

(00:24:59):
there and not not being a replacement but it is what it is what can i you know cry

(00:25:06):
all day and sit on it or try to you know move on and and be ready in case someone

(00:25:11):
someone something happens you know and that's that's that's what i'm doing now

(00:25:15):
getting ready and uh

(00:25:16):
I'll be in Hawaii and that's it.

(00:25:19):
So are you trying to re-qualify regardless through the QS or are you just waiting your turn?

(00:25:24):
Well, my goal, anyway, the QS, the Challenger doesn't start until April or something.

(00:25:31):
Hopefully everything clicks and I have my shots on the events before the cut and I

(00:25:37):
can come back and I'm on tour,

(00:25:38):
you know?

(00:25:39):
Don't need to do the Challenger.

(00:25:40):
Yeah, exactly.

(00:25:41):
The perfect scenario and that's my main goal of it.

(00:25:44):
if it doesn't happen like i told you i'll get back to the challenger and and grind again brother

(00:25:51):
Man, that's life, you know?

(00:25:53):
I have one more question for you before we go.

(00:25:55):
So you're an Olympian too, right?

(00:25:56):
We talked about it already.

(00:25:58):
So I wonder,

(00:25:59):
what's more important for you,

(00:26:01):
representing Morocco on the CT or representing your country at the Olympic Games?

(00:26:05):
That's a tough one.

(00:26:06):
Because, man, you know, Olympics is huge.

(00:26:08):
You know, everyone that even doesn't know surf, just sport-wise, it's Olympics, you know?

(00:26:15):
But as an athlete,

(00:26:16):
as a surfer,

(00:26:17):
pure,

(00:26:17):
you know,

(00:26:17):
and the way I grew up with the values of surfing I have and all that,

(00:26:22):
man,

(00:26:22):
top is the CT,

(00:26:23):
you know,

(00:26:24):
because that's the goal when you're young,

(00:26:25):
you know,

(00:26:26):
when you're young,

(00:26:26):
especially when I was young,

(00:26:27):
there was no Olympics for surfing back then.

(00:26:29):
Just came up, you know, so my goal was CT, CT, CT, CT.

(00:26:34):
So I feel like when I qualified, that was, that felt good, bro.

(00:26:39):
It felt good.

(00:26:41):
No, absolutely.

(00:26:42):
It sure did, you know.

(00:26:43):
Because I know I can make it up, you know?

(00:26:47):
Back then, there were a few people telling me, Ramsey, you deserve to be on tour.

(00:26:50):
You have to serve to be on tour.

(00:26:51):
But honestly, deep inside, man, I wasn't... I was like, I don't know, man.

(00:26:57):
Everyone is saying this, but look at these guys, man.

(00:26:59):
There's so many good guys that get in there and get back, you know?

(00:27:03):
Right back, you know?

(00:27:04):
Right back to the US.

(00:27:06):
Like, it's hard, you know?

(00:27:08):
And I wasn't sure if I was ready, to be honest.

(00:27:09):
Deep inside, huh?

(00:27:11):
But now...

(00:27:12):
It's been a few years now, maybe two years.

(00:27:14):
I feel like two years that I really think I'm not saying if it happens,

(00:27:19):
I'm going to,

(00:27:19):
you know,

(00:27:20):
it's still hard.

(00:27:21):
All the guys are the best,

(00:27:22):
you know,

(00:27:23):
but I'm saying that I know I can mix up with most of the guys up there,

(00:27:27):
you know,

(00:27:28):
When I'm on,

(00:27:29):
if I'm switching on and I'm doing my thing and everything is right and all,

(00:27:32):
you know,

(00:27:33):
I know I can beat a lot of them there.

(00:27:35):
So that gives me an extra confidence too,

(00:27:38):
you know,

(00:27:38):
knowing that you can mix it up with the guys up there.

(00:27:41):
So that's why I'm here.

(00:27:43):
I think it's also easier now for you.

(00:27:45):
Like your mindset, you know, is more at ease because you sort of cracked the code.

(00:27:51):
You did it, you know, like before...

(00:27:54):
You were trying, you came so close so many times, but it never actually happened.

(00:27:58):
Now you actually, you know, you did qualify.

(00:28:01):
Well, then there was the injury, whatever.

(00:28:03):
You cracked the code like you did it, you know.

(00:28:05):
So I think now for you also looking back or looking forward, I should say as well, is it becomes easier.

(00:28:12):
Yeah, I feel like to maybe because I know, like you said, because I did it once.

(00:28:16):
So now I know how to do it, you know.

(00:28:19):
I know how to do it.

(00:28:20):
I'm not saying it's going to be easy.

(00:28:21):
But like you said, I'm not in that state of mind of, I don't know how it feels.

(00:28:27):
You know, I don't know because I never, you know, now I know, I know what to do.

(00:28:30):
I know what it takes to do it.

(00:28:31):
And with all my experience now on the QS and I'm just competing,

(00:28:35):
you know,

(00:28:36):
just my experience with competition.

(00:28:38):
And I feel like, you know, I know, I know the mistakes I've done.

(00:28:42):
And yeah, let's see, man.

(00:28:44):
And now it's up to me.