Social media is abuzz with the viral image of Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina at the Paris Olympics 2024 in the men's surfing round 3. Photographer Jerome Brouillet, who works with AFP, clicked Medina in mid-air and since then, the image has taken the internet by storm.(Olympics Full Coverage | More Sports Stories)
Speaking of the image, Brouillet clicked Medina hovering in the air and with his right-arm pointing to the sky with the board next to him. Speaking to The Guardian, Brouillet said he was a 'little bit shocked' with what he captured.
"The conditions were perfect," he said. "The waves were taller than we expected."
"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," Brouillet told the newspaper. "It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave."
As soon as he sent the image to his editors, the reactions he received were something unexpected.
"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'," Brouillet said.
"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."
Reaction To The Photo Worldwide:
Australian media house, News.com.au said it was 'the greatest sports photo of all time'
Whereas TIME magazine described it as 'the defining image of triumph of the 2024 Summer Games'.
Medina, who shared the photo on his Instagram handle, got over 4 million likes that included from Brazilian football stars Vinicius Jr and Neymar Jr.
