Gabriel Medina has been one of the most talked about names in the last few hours, and the reason is because last night he left one of the photos of the Games, and possibly of 2024. The three-time world champion entered a 5-meter wave and left it perfectly to shoot vertically, indicating that he was number one. A photo for history. The exercise served to get him a 9.9, the best score in the history of the Olympic Games, although he really wanted more. He asked for a 10, but even if he didn’t get it, his exercise remained in the memory.
The Brazilian, in his mid-teens, at 14 years old, already had several achievements under his belt. Despite winning three world surfing championships in 2014, 2018 and 2021, it was not until then that he understood that he had to improve his sporting performance. Being an elite athlete is about always going for more. However, everything fell apart for him, and that attempt to improve led to a personal crisis. Gabriel Medina went so far as to separate from his wife, and that ended up distancing him even further from the sport he loved so much. He spent more than a year without competing until he finally decided to return in 2023. And his return to surfing led him to be able to catch the plane to Paris.
When he arrived in the City of Light, he did not have in mind to shine in this way for this exercise, and of course even less for his subsequent photo. But the Olympic Games are like that. This competition has allowed the Brazilian to redeem himself from that personal crisis he had in 2021. In life everything comes back and it was no less so for Gabriel Medina.
Olympic Games Agenda
Olympic Games medal table
