OAHU, UNITED STATES – DECEMBER 11: Italo Ferreira of Brazil advances to Round 4 of the 2019 Billabong Pipe Masters after winning Heat 1 of Round 3 at Pipeline on December 11, 2019 in Oahu, United States. (Photo by Tony Heff/WSL via Getty Images)
John John holding off Kelly Slater and Seth Moniz for the second of two Team USA spots has arguably been the headliner in Olympic roster talk the past few months. But for months, plenty of other races for qualification have been far more competitive, with spots that are probably tougher to secure on either World Tour. Among them, Team Brazil has easily had the highest barrier to entry.
It’s a bit anticlimactic that through 10 events, five collective tour wins, and multiple trades of the yellow jersey, Team Brazil’s roster was finally set at the Pipe Masters with one of its challengers losing in the Round of 32. Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira, and Filipe Toledo have virtually run the CT this year with John John sidelined, and going into the final event of the year their three-way race for a world title at Pipe was also set to be a best two-out-of-three for an Olympic bid. Filipe Toledo is probably still more disappointed about being knocked out of contention for the 2019 World Title, but his Round of 32 loss to Ricardo Christie also meant he’ll be the one watching his fellow countrymen Gabriel Medina and Italo Ferreira compete for gold in 2020.
Back in September, when competitors were getting ready for the 2019 ISA World Games — a compulsory qualification event — Toledo had the yellow jersey, having won the Oi Pro back in June. Gabriel Medina was just starting his ascension up the rankings (he won his second event of the year, the Freshwater Pro, immediately after the ISA event in September) and Italo Ferreira was sitting outside of the top five, ranked world no. 6 at the time.
Ferreira, of course, famously showed up to his first with just 10 minutes left, borrowed a board, ran into the water in a pair of jorts, and proceeded to win the whole event. With the hindsight of where they’re all at today and Toledo officially on the outside looking in, that viral moment was pivotal. In fact, it was Filipe who lent his friend a board when he frantically showed up on the beach that day. Had Ferreira missed that opening round altogether, he would have been ineligible for the Olympics and Filipe Toledo would be a future Olympian. Instead, Italo followed up his ISA Games win with a Finals appearance in Lemoore, a Finals appearance in France, and a win in Portugal.
Now Gabriel Medina and Italo Ferreira are going to be wearing green, yellow, and blue jerseys in Tokyo next summer. And they’ll be heavy favorites to win a medal.
