Pires, Tiago (1980 – )

Sturdy regularfoot pro from Portugal; the first surfer from his country to qualify for the ASP's elite world tour. Pires was born (1980) in Lisbon, the son of a movie set designer. He tried surfing as a pre-teen, using a board given to him by his brother, and as a youngster commuted 21 miles by bus to the wave-rich coastline of Ericeira.

Pires was a national junior champion in 1994 and 1995, European junior champion in 1999, and rookie of the year in the 2000 Triple Crown of Surfing, where h...