Picture by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images
Filipe Toledo has everything a professional surfer can wish for: multiple world titles, trophies from the biggest competitions, a spot at the Olympic Games, and more than a million followers online.
But there is one wish the Brazilian has not managed to make come true – to celebrate his birthday at home.
The last time he did so was in 2016 and even then, it came by chance. Toledo got injured while trying to land an air in competition and had to skip the following two stops on the WSL Championship Tour, the second of which freed up time for a birthday celebration among family.
This year, Toledo decided not to wait for an injury to savour such moments. In February 2024, he announced that he is withdrawing from competition to focus on his mental health and be at his best for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Months on, he is certain it was the right decision, and not only for himself.
“I needed to talk about this and to show the world how hard it is,” Toledo told Olympics.com. “Every sport should have attention to mental health. People start super young, for so many years doing the same thing, it becomes stressful. And the more we talk about it, the easier it gets, so I'm happy to be someone that talks about it and defends this flag.”
Toledo has surfed for 24 out of the 29 years of his life and competed as a professional surfer for almost half of them.
In his 14 years as a pro, the Ubatuba native enjoyed immense success, which includes back-to-back world titles in 2022 and 2023, and numerous wins on the top circuit.
But behind the trophies and victory celebrations, the life of a professional surfer was taking its toll on Toledo. A father of two, he was rarely home in California to see his children and spent most of the year shuttling from one wave to another.
And so, Toledo decided to pack his surf gear and board yet another plane, only this time to fly back to his family.
“I've been doing this for so many years,” Toledo said. “Fifteen years old, I became a professional surfer and since then, that's the only thing I do for my life. Of course, it brought me so many beautiful and amazing things. It changed my life. It changed my family's lives and I have no regrets on it. But with all of that, as the sport grows, there's more attention, there's more pressure.
“After 11 years, I decided to take the year off, take a little break for myself, reset, recharge, be home, be a parent for my kids, and be a husband for my wife and do something for my family, for my mom and dad, just the little things that for all these years past I couldn't do, like celebrate my birthday at home.”
While some surf experts questioned whether Toledo would be able to return to the circuit in the same top shape, the surfer explained that it was essential to step back now if he wanted to have a future in the sport beyond 2024.
“It just felt like, OK, I have to take care of myself so I can come back stronger and still go for another five, six years, than just go through the feelings this year, fight it and then maybe not be able to do it for another three years,” Toledo said.
While more athletes are speaking out about mental health, there are also many who still feel uncomfortable sharing the struggles they are facing.
With his social media post about taking a break and the interviews that followed, Toledo knows he can no longer stay in the shadows and he is eager to use the spotlight to create widespread change.
“I have no regrets of stepping back and being the voice of taking care of mental health inside of the surfing world, which is not really normal right now. It's becoming something more normal in that we always talk about it and we always try to help each other,” he said.
“Something that got to me was, I know that everyone's going through the same thing. Why nobody talks about it? What's the reason? It's just because you're going to show you're weak or what is it? And then I was just like, I feel people need to know. People need to know that we're humans. We're not machines. We have a lot to sacrifice.”
Fellow multi-world champion Carissa Moore has also decided to take time off the WSL Championship Tour this season, competing only at Pipeline Pro and Tahiti Pro before returning to Teahupo’o in July in an effort to defend her Olympic title.
The break has allowed the USA athlete to spend more time at home with her husband, enjoying the little moments like smelling flowers on their daily walks with the dogs.
Likewise, Toledo’s days saw a major makeover this year. He spent more time with his family, taught his son surfing tricks, taken trips with his friends to Costa Rica and Mexico, launched a street food franchise, and even played football with Kaka.
The Brazilian surfer is savouring this versatile agenda and he hopes it will inspire more athletes to take a similar decision, if they need to.
“I started in a way and it's becoming something more normal and people are more aware of it, and people are taking care of themselves more,” Toledo said. “And I feel like it's beautiful.”
Brazil is sending six surfers to Paris 2024 with Filipe Toledo set to make his Olympic debut.
Toledo is savouring another feeling lately, that of his imminent status as an Olympian.
He missed the cut for Tokyo 2020 and was a reserve for eventual Olympic champion Italo Ferreira and three-time world champion Gabriel Medina who headlined the highly competitive Brazilian team.
“It's every athlete's dream to be in the Olympics and to have a medal. And for our sport, for surfing, I feel like that's the highest that we can go,” Toledo said of going to Paris 2024. “I was super close to qualifying the last Olympics in Japan. Only by 150 points or something like that, I couldn't make it, but this year I'll be able to represent my country, my family, and my friends, everyone that supports me. I'm excited. It's a dream come true.”
Brazil will be the only National Olympic Committee (NOC) sending six surfers to Paris 2024. A maximum of two surfers per gender can take part, but Brazil has extra men’s and women’s slots thanks to the team’s dual victories at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico.
Toledo was one of the surfers who helped Brazil – and by default, his long-time friend Medina – get that extra men’s Olympic quota.
“I don't think it gets stronger than it is right now,” Toledo said of the Brazilian contingent going to Tahiti. “In Puerto Rico, we had that feeling of team and supporting each other and I felt like that's what made the difference for us. We were all together supporting each other and the results were beautiful.
“We did a really good job of helping the team in getting that third spot for the men's and women's and it just brings more value to us for sport and definitely a bigger chance of us bringing back home a medal.”
Toledo, for one, is hoping one of those medals is tucked into the luggage he is taking with him on the return flight home from Tahiti.
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