Brazilian Gabriel Medina won the bronze medal in the men’s surfing tournament at the Paris Olympic Games (France) after defeating Peruvian Alonso Correa by 15.54 to 12.43, this Monday (5) in Teahupoo (Tahiti), in the dispute for third place.
YOU DESERVE IT, GABRIEL!
One of the greatest in history!
You NEEDED an Olympic medal!#Olympic Games #TimeBrazil #Paris2024 #Medley pic.twitter.com/xhAVfhw3gD
— Time Brazil (@timebrasil) August 5, 2024
To achieve victory, the three-time world champion had the mental strength to recover from a frustrating performance in the competition’s semi-final, in which he was defeated by Australian Jack Robinson by 12.33 to 6.33 in a dispute in which he ended up surfing only once in the heat, being greatly hampered by the poor sea conditions at Teahupoo and by the bet on maintaining priority to catch a good wave.
Facing Alonso Correa, Medina completely changed his strategy, and, even in a small sea, he showed all his technical quality to stack up good maneuvers to add two scores of 7.77 to beat the Peruvian.
“I’m happy with the medal. I trained hard this year for this. Of course, my focus was on the gold medal, but I’m an Olympic medalist. I’m happy with my work. I feel like I deserved this medal. I’m passionate about my country, so I’m happy to have represented it so well,” said Medina about winning the bronze.
The surfer from São Sebastião also commented on the lack of waves in the semifinals, a condition that really affected him: “It’s part of the game. We have to know how to deal with the sea. Unfortunately, my first heat had few waves. But it’s part of the sport. I’m happy to have done my best. And that’s what matters, regardless of the result. It started sadly, but ended happily.”
