It was a celebration worthy of the ages — or at least viral fame.
Surfer Gabriel Medina was taking on Kanoa Igarashi, the man who beat him at the Tokyo Olympics and eventually won silver, and he was looking to turn the tide this time around.
The Brazilian not only managed to take down the Japanese surfer, he did so in part thanks to a near-perfect 9.90-scoring wave on Day 3 of the surfing competition in Tahiti – taking part halfway around the world from Paris. It was the highest-scoring wave in Olympic history.
The resultant jubilation produced another moment of perfection: Medina leapt from his surfboard, raised his finger aloft and his board just managed to fly parallel to him as photographer Jerome Brouillet from Agence France-Presse snapped the shot.
“The conditions were perfect, the waves were taller than we expected,” Brouillet told The Guardian. “So he [Medina] is at the back of the wave and I can’t see him and then he pops up and I took four pictures and one of them was this one.
“It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.”
Brouillet added: “I was just checking my phone on the six-minute break after the shoot and I had lots of notifications on social media and I thought something is happening with this shot and it was shared on ESPN and I thought: ‘Cool.’”
“It’s very cool, it’s a nice shot and lots of people love it. It’s not really a surf photograph so it captures the attention of more people.”
The remarkable picture has spread across social media with Brazilians celebrating their surfer’s progress into the final eight of the competition, including Real Madrid and Seleção forward Rodrygo.
When Medina posted the picture to his Instagram page, amidst all the praise from astounded Brazilians and the more than four million likes, Igarashi commented: “Damn he didn’t even leave one for us hahahaha (laughing so I don’t cry).”
Still, while Medina has made it one step closer toward his goal of an Olympic medal, he certainly felt that the judges could have been more considerate of his efforts.
“I felt like it was a 10,” the three-time WSL world champion said after his round. “I’ve done a few 10s before and I was like, ‘For sure, that’s a 10.’ The wave was so perfect.”
Still, while the performance on the water might not have been a 10 out of 10, the picture was certainly the image of perfection.
