A different angle of the moment Medina posed for the greatest Olympic photo in surfing. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
By now, even if you’re not a surfer, you’ve likely seen that picture of Gabriel Medina at the Olympic Games at Teahupo’o. It’s an incredible image; one that is, for good reason, taking the internet by storm. But since the internet is… well, the internet, a million claims of “photoshop!” are following it around. It was not photoshopped, and here’s proof.
The photo in question was shot by Jérôme Brouillet, a photographer for Agence France-Presse (AFP).
““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,” said Brouillet to The Guardian. “It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.”
Brouillet is not a rookie to surf photography. As one of the best waves of the day approached with Medina squarely in its sights, he was aware that Medina has a penchant for epic kick outs and prepared for what he hoped to be the most epic of epic kick outs. When he checked his camera after clicking the shutter, he was not disappointed.
“Every photographer is waiting for that. You know Gabriel Medina, especially at Teahupo’o will kick off and do something,” Brouillet explained to the AFP. “You know something is going to happen. The only tricky moment is where he is going to kick out? Because I’m blind! Sometimes he makes an acrobatic gesture and this time he did that and so I pushed the button.”
“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’,” he continued. “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 shot was taken after Medina very nearly scored a perfect 10. It was a 9.9, which is the best score of the Games so far. Brouillet, despite having taken a photo that the whole world is looking at, isn’t getting a big head about it.
“I got the shot of the day,” he said. “I was with six talented photographers on the boat and for sure everyone will forget about it next week. Tomorrow won’t be any different.”
GABRIEL MEDINA TAKES FLIGHT. ✈️🌊
Still in awe of this photo. #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/kBzJRJZmpW
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) July 30, 2024
Check this out to see Gabriel Medina claiming everyday things, like a taxi, a sandwich, and other stuff we would claim too.
