Iconic? But it happens all the time. Photo: Nathan Florence//Screengrab
I’m not sure surfers and non-surfers are looking at the same thing when they see Gabriel Medina’s instantly iconic Olympic salute to the channel. The realization of this misunderstanding came to me yesterday while scrolling through Instagram.
“Olympic Surfer Defies Gravity,” read the split-screen caption on the NBC Sports page.
“Shut up, that’s what they think is happening here,” I yelped. “Is it? Did this go viral because…because a guy kicked out of a wave?”
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I spent at least 10 minutes ranting to my fiancée, who doesn’t surf, about the mundane nature of a flyaway, then I went back to social media. I dug through comment sections of other pages featuring the photo, and my surfing sixth sense flipped on – that little voice that allows us to identify whether or not a person surfs based on the most trivial of things.
Sure enough, the wow factor for casual observers of these Olympics seems to be the fact that Gabriel Medina launched himself out of a wave. I know they’re jokes, but you could even find people lobbying to make the wave a 10-point ride based on the dismount alone. Never mind the absurd nature of the wave itself. Forget the ride that just went down that created the momentum to threw him into the least technical part of the whole thing: a simple flyaway and a coincidental statuesque pose. That mid-air pose, of course, creating the perfect composition for Jerome Brouillet’s image, and Medina standing over the water like a supernatural being, making the picture so unique to the common eye. But the moment? No, the moment that created it all was big and noteworthy, and had nothing to do with him kicking out, something every surfer does.
Poll 100 surfers and they’ll give you 100 different reasons Gabriel Medina’s now-viral image is an instant classic. More than any other athlete in our sport, fans have a strong opinion about Gabriel Medina. That image alone probably captured whatever that opinion may be. It’s him in so many unexplainable ways. And we all reacted to that.
From where I sit, Italo wouldn’t have thrown out that single finger to salute the channel. He’s a human cup of ultra-caffeinated coffee who probably would have tried to land a rodeo flip. Jack Robinson? Honestly, the announcers would have been too busy reminding us how much he meditates. John John? Ummm, John John lifting his arm for more than a fist pump might be physically impossible. One thing that unites surfing right now is the understanding that only Gabby would have capitalized on that opportunity with that style and grace that’s now turning heads around the world.
Compare this to what’s often thought of as the most famous photo in sports history for perspective: Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston in 1965. You already know it without looking it up because you’ve seen it a 100 times.
On this night in 1965, Ali leveled Liston and an iconic photo forever immortalized the moment. (via John Rooney/AP) pic.twitter.com/olZpMHagOP
— ESPN (@espn) May 26, 2016
Whether you’re a boxing historian or not you have an understanding of Ali. What made that shot so impactful is the life he lived and what he stood for. In photography’s truest sense as an art form, the image captured his aura, his historical significance, his charisma, his relevance, and his dominance in one frame. Your mind’s eye can’t drum up a feeling of the man and the athlete without referencing that split second, which is truly how long it lasted before more drama unfolded. Most of the world mistakenly looks at Ali thumping his chest and thinks it’s the moment he claimed a victory in the rematch versus Liston, but few people talk about the fact that Liston got right up. You’d never know in that single frame.
“Get up, you fool,” Ali yelled.
He did. He stumbled then fell over again while referee Jersey Joe Walcott shoved Ali to a neutral corner. Ali’s celebration, though, kept Walcott from starting his 10 count, and by the time the shuffling and dancing was done and Walcott had turned back around, Liston was standing and ready to fight. The boxers squared off and continued…briefly. While Walcott was busy with Ali, the timekeeper kept his own count, and even though the fighters were back to throwing more jabs, the fight was called a knockout that may or not not have actually been a knockout. It’s one of the most controversial endings in sports history, capturing conspiracy theories of mob payoffs and corruption thanks to “The Phantom Punch” that first sent Liston to the floor. But the image remains bigger than the moment, even if it does give a false impression of what played out.
That photo enhanced Ali’s legacy as a world beater, a boisterous and confident athlete like no other in history who was actually dominant enough to back it up. Sound at all like Gabriel Medina? The photo wasn’t so kind to Liston, however.
“[After the two Ali fights] Liston would never again intimidate a world-class fighter,” wrote Bob Mee, “and therefore would never again be the fighter he used to be.”
Never mind the fact that Liston went on to win 15 of his next 16 fights. The image of him on his back is indelible. Facts be damned.
Am I suggesting the early favorite for the photo of the 2024 Olympics is “overrated?” No. I’m saying it’s misunderstood.
When it’s all said and done, Medina’s “Salute to the Channel” will take on a life of its own if the Brazilian goes on to win gold. We’ll forget in 20 years that it was snapped in the third round of just the second Olympic surf contest ever and we might even forget that the real star of the contest has been Teahupo’o itself. Nobody’s talking about the actual wave that preceded the shot now so I doubt that’ll change with time.
But maybe we’ll look back at Gabriel Medina’s career, or simply how surfing’s evolved in that timespan, through the lens of that moment. Because in that moment we have a man who just two years ago swallowed a very tough pill and walked away from a sport he was dominating. He was grappling with a broken heart and his mental health. Rather than being a tough-guy athlete and sucking it up, he put his personal life and happiness over his career status. That in itself proves we live in a completely different world than the one in which Muhammad Ali became famous. Medina’s had flashes of brilliance since returning but nobody will argue he’s been the same force on the Championship Tour that he was pre-2022 — except maybe when he’s competing at Teahupo’o. Medina is a fixture in the Final of every CT contest in Tahiti, so this moment plus this surfer plus this wave are a match made in storytelling heaven. How he finishes this Olympic contest could mean a lot to his career.
“I never thought the Olympics would be like this.” Yeah, we didn’t either. Photo: ISA
Or maybe it’s just what surfing needed to earn more eyeballs, not to flood our lineups as the salties online fear, but because Teahupo’o itself is the real main character in this Olympic event. Many Tahitians argued if Teahupo’o didn’t want Olympic surfing, she wouldn’t have given us waves, or she’d have torn that damned tower down herself. Instead, Teahupo’o gave us mind-blowing conditions on a day we all thought the contest wouldn’t run and delivered one of its best competitors a chance to captivate random, everyday people who’ve never seen a surfer kick out of a wave.
Like Liston getting up after the famous photo was taken, the backstories of Medina and Teahupo’o, the unique competitive relationship, will run deeper than the average Joe will see on first glance. The photo might compel us to tell great stories. Maybe those stories will have a positive impact, or inspire. Maybe that photo, instead of being misunderstood, will help people understand how special surfing really is.
