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Paris 2024 – Surfing: the incredible image of Gabriel Medina
The three-time world surfing champion provided the image of the night by claiming a score of 10 at the end of his wave.
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The Brazilian surfer scored an unprecedented 9.9 in the third round of the men’s surfing event at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Monday in Teahupo’o, and was photographed in the air celebrating his wave.
This is certainly the image of these Olympic Games. Gabriel Medina seems to have stopped time, flying above the water in the photo by Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer Jérôme Brouillet, after setting a new Olympic record with a score of 9.9 on the Teahupo’o wave, Monday, July 29 in Tahiti. To celebrate his impressive passage through the tube, the Brazilian surfer even claimed the maximum score by showing his ten fingers, before flying off on the crest of the wave.
“Every photographer waits for this moment. You know that Gabriel Medina, especially at Teahupo’o, is going to go out and do something (…) The only tricky part is knowing where he’s going to kick. (…) Sometimes he does an acrobatic move and this time he did and I pressed the shutter.”Jérôme Brouillet told AFP.
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The three-time world surfing champion didn’t do things by halves to reach the quarter-finals and eliminate Kanoa Igarashi, the reigning Olympic vice-champion. With a taste of revenge, since the Japanese had beaten him in the semi-finals of the Tokyo 2021 Games by 0.24 points (17.00 points to 16.76). Gabriel Medina is one of the big favorites on the Teahupo’o wave, where he has already won twice on the world circuit, and taken second place three times.