This iconic Olympic photo goes around the world
The Olympic surfing competitions in Tahiti are providing many memorable moments, with Brazilian Gabriel Medina delivering the most spectacular one. After a dream ride and a massive score, he jumps out of the wave and stands high in the air. What a moment.
Jerome Brouillet is the man who might give "Paris 2024" the most spectacular image of the Olympic Games. barely out in the world, it's already causing a stir. It was created at the farthest point from the French capital. During the surfing competitions in Tahiti. On Monday evening, the photographer captured the moment when Brazilian Gabriel Medina celebrated his "monster ride" through the wave. He received a score of 9.90 for his dance in the tunnel. A massive score, accompanied by a massive photo.
Medina jumps out of the wave in his fifth heat, stands in the air, raises his finger, with his board standing beside him, as straight as a candle. "The conditions were perfect, the waves were higher than we expected," the photographer told the English "Guardian". The photo looks so perfectly composed that he had to listen to some people on social media saying it was created with Photoshop or artificial intelligence. "He's at the end of the wave and I can't see him, and then he appears and I took four pictures and one of them was this," Brouillet said about the creation of the image.
The 30-year-old Medina is one of the best in his spectacular sport and, after the quarterfinal exit of American John John Florence, one of the top favorites for the gold medal. With a nearly perfect ride on Monday, the three-time world champion has clearly demonstrated his claim. At the first-ever surfing competition at the Summer Games in 2021 in Tokyo, he reached the semifinals and narrowly missed a medal. He can now take the next step towards that against his compatriot Joao Chianca. But the world is talking less about his achievements than about the image he has provided.
Photographer Brouillet didn't understand the impact of his iconic image at first. Only when he looked at his phone again after a short time did the man from AFP realize what he had achieved. The image was commented on extensively on social media. But he remained modest: "It's cool. I took the photo of the day, but I was with six talented photographers on the boat and next week everyone will have forgotten about it. Tomorrow will be the same."
Jerome Brouillet's photograph of Gabriel Medina during the Olympic surfing competitions in Tahiti is expected to become an iconic image of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The image, which shows Medina jumping out of a wave and standing high in the air, has been scrutinized for its apparent perfection, with some suggesting it was enhanced using technology.
