THE GOLDEN MOMENT
The story behind the picture
I was covering the competition of the Olympic surfing games in Teahupoo, the sport that I love most in the world, for the AFP news agency.
On 29 July 2024, this morning at 9:30 am, the third day of competition, Gabriel got the biggest wave of the competition (and then the best score in the history of the Olympics. 9.90 out of 10!). I expected him, to make a kick out as he is used to at the end of big waves. I took eight pictures, at 10 frames per second. This is the fourth photo in the series.
I was unaware at that time when sending this photo among some others of my selection live to AFP that this photo would go around the world several times before I even returned to the marina!
In a few hours I had an amazing number of new followers on my social networks, and a dozen emails for interviews!The day after the end of the competition, Corona, one of Gabriel Medina’s sponsors invited me to meet him in Paris...
In hindsight, I appreciate the countless factors that could have prevented this photo from happening. The position of the boat, the height of Gabriel's jump, the wind conditions, and my own positioning all played a role in capturing this perfect moment.This is the beauty of photography: freezing time and capturing unique moments.