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When AFP photographer Jerome Brouillet set out to shoot the third day of surfing competition in Tahiti on Monday, he couldn鈥檛 have predicted that he鈥檇 capture one of the most iconic moments of the Games so far.
In the fifth heat of the day, Brazilian three-time world champion Gabriel Medina a ride that would nab him a nearly perfect score of 9.90 鈥� an Olympic record. From a boat to the side of the action, Brouillet waited for Medina to surf out of the wave 鈥� where he captured the now-viral photo.
Medina, who鈥檚 just soared out from the barrel of a treacherous wave, raises an arm toward the sky, index finger pointed upward. His surfboard, tethered to his ankle, is also careening through the air 鈥� and, in this millisecond captured by Brouillet, is perfectly parallel with Medina.
鈥淚 like to say that taking pictures is a bit like surfing. It鈥檚 a mix of preparation, devotion, timing, some experience and a touch of luck,鈥� Brouillet wrote in an
When Medina first entered the wave, one of the biggest of the day, Brouillet could tell that something special was going to happen, . But from his vantage point on a boat with other media covering the event, he said he wasn鈥檛 sure what he鈥檇 be able to capture. Then, the expert surfing photographer snapped four frames of Medina emerging from the wave, celebrating his run.
"Sometimes he makes an acrobatic gesture and this time he did that and so I pushed the button," he told the AFP.
In the meantime, the photo has gone majorly viral; Medina himself posted the photo to Instagram, where it鈥檚 received more than 5.7 million likes.
The fact that Brouillet was able to snap this photo probably shouldn鈥檛 come as much of a surprise 鈥� the photographer, who鈥檚 worked for the AFP for several years, is a surfer himself and moved to Tahiti about a decade ago,
鈥淭hat day, Gabriel was in the water at the right place, at the right time, and so was I,鈥� Brouillet wrote on Instagram.
The Paris Games鈥� surfing events have been taking place off , a village on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. Its waters are notorious for the heavy, powerful waves that break over a large but shallow reef. Accordingly, it鈥檚 both unnerved and enticed top surfers for decades: 鈥淚t's one of the most beautiful and dangerous waves in the world,鈥�
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