Brazil’s Gabriel Medina wins world surfing games, in line for Olympic spot
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Three-time world champion Gabriel Medina of Brazil competing during the men's final at ISA World Surfing Games in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, on March 3.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
PUERTO RICO – Three-time world champion Gabriel Medina won surfing’s final Olympic qualifying event in Puerto Rico on March 3, giving him a likely spot in an expanded Brazilian team that will go for gold at Teahupo’o in Tahiti in five months’ time.
Brazil also won both the men and women’s team events at the International Surfing Association’s (ISA) World Surfing Games, earning them one extra berth for each gender for the Paris 2024 Games, at the discretion of the National Olympic Committee. Countries are usually restricted to just two spots each for men and women.
“I didn’t know if my spot was going to come, but I just tried to give my best. (If) I don’t go, someone else is going to go and that’s it, we are a team.
“I think everyone was in that spirit, so that helps a lot,” Medina said after finishing the event undefeated in eight rounds.
Medina, 30, is one of the best ever in the powerful and sometimes terrifying barrels of the Olympic venue Teahupo’o, reaching the finals of the world tour event there six times and winning it twice.
His likely qualification is a big boost for the Brazilian men’s surfing team, who won the sport’s first gold medal through Italo Ferreira at the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, but who are facing doubts over the participation of both their other qualifiers.
Reigning world champion Filipe Toledo decided to take a year off the professional tour, citing mental health issues after a disappointing performance at the season-opener at Hawaii’s Pipeline.
The 28-year-old has yet to commit publicly to the Olympics at Teahupo’o, where he has struggled in the big backhand barrels in the past.
Fellow qualifier Joao Chianca was badly injured during a pre-season warmup at the Pipeline late in 2023 and has not surfed in competition since.
Tokyo Games competitor Sally Fitzgibbons of Australia won the women’s event, a fourth ISA victory, but missed out on an Olympic spot as her country had already qualified two women via the professional world tour. REUTERS
