Even with a mouth sticky with cocktails, it's hard to deny Gabriel Medina's natural lyricism in his work.
You’re very well aware of the mainstream press’ reaction to a photo of globally cute Gabriel Medina kicking out at Teahupoo last August.
Time magazine called the photograph by Marseilles-born Jerome Brouillet who now lives in Tahiti and was shooting for Agence France-Presse the “defining image of triumph of the 2024 Summer Games.”
What was left mostly unsaid was the ordinariness of the moment, even if the symmetry of Medina and his board is lightly interesting.
“Ok, a lifetime’s worth of kickout shots in a single day. Now please make it stop,” wrote the former photo editor of now-defunct Surfing magazine, Jimmy Wilson.
And, in a frank interview that appeared on the Instagram account Duke_Surf, the French-Australian photographer Tim Mckenna, whose photos of Teahupoo hang in galleries around the world, said, man, it just wasn’t…that…good.
“It’s typical mainstream media that love kick-outs, you know, the worst manoeuvre in surfing,” says McKenna.
“Unfortunately the most famous photo of the Olympics is going to be a photo where you don’t even see the Teahupoo wave. And for me, it’s all about the wave, it’s the show, the star is the wave, it’s Teahupoo. And this photo you don’t really see it, you see the arena. It’s great for the city, for the Olympics, and for Toronto, but there’s better photos out there.”
Now, Gabriel Medina, who is still, officially, recovering from a busted up titty, one of those titties with a perky-looking chocolate drop nipple it has to be said, has recreated the instantly iconic image during a session at a Sao Paulo wavepool.
Even with a mouth sticky with cocktails, it’s hard to deny Gabriel Medina’s natural lyricism in his work, each wave a prop.
Aren’t surfers fabulous?
O TRICAMPEÃO MUNDIAL ESTÁ DE VOLTA!!! O PRIMEIRO SURF DE GABRIEL MEDINA APÓS SEU RETORNO!!! pic.twitter.com/vDF8Lr0Rbx
— Surf News Brasil (@SurfNewsBrasil) May 10, 2025
The fact that he’s bothering to attempt to recreate the photo, at all, let alone in a Nocean, further cements the idea in my my mind that ultimately, he’s a kook. He may have a couple of CT titles, but GM is a kook. And to be honest, he’s got an ugly style. I don’t like it. Narcissistic behaviour suits no one.
Kind of like fingering your bumhole reimagining the fuck of your life.
Xox
That is the fuck of my life. Things are bad. Crack of dawn better be careful around here
I love the smell of exploding ordinance in the morning in Gaza. Smells like….victory
– Mohamed don’t surf!
– I love the smell of Napalm in the morning…
Send Cel. William ‘Bill’ Kilgore (Robert Duvall) to Gaza Now!
He’s dead bro
Apocalypse Now, heroes never die.
I was actually contacted by a palestinian surfer in Gaza on IG, looking for help….yep his name is Mohamed!
Poor guy. I really feel for him. War sucks. Release the hostages and get over with this. ‘Palestine’ people are dominated by terrorists, Hamas is evil.
Frontside Gab air!
We had this professional golfer here in aus years ago who was such a pisshead he got off his chartered flight and walked straight into the prop. Lost his arm.He could now ” do the Medina ” ( only one more time obviously)
Yeah but it was pitch black and raining! Speaking of golfers. There are three people from the commonwealth we would like to give back. The great white shark and Harry and Megan. There was four but we got rid of James Corden.
The unbearable lightness of irrelevance.
Who cares about this. How about some coverage on the Saltwater Cowboy jetski situation at Uluwatu? Or beachfront is scared of upsetting someone…
How about you post up a link or some info as I no fucking idea what you’re talking about.
Apologies Negatron, appreciate your fine work
https://www.instagram.com/r…
Ah cheers, I see STAB and the inertia have already covered it.
They do step offs at 4′ balangan
Any foto of Gmed is a great foto!!
He really owns that signature kick out. Has he named it yet? I hope people start asking him to “do the kick out” at every contest.
Its the logical step – signature kick-outs!
Wonder who’s next
Guaranteed Italo is jealous, laying in bed at night trying to come up with his own signature kick out. During the lead up to the first CT Finals event both those guys were back and forth copying each other but also kind of competing through their ig stories. They both got the same haircuts. They’d post clips of themselves getting hyped to Brazilian rap and so on. When one posted the other would follow with a similar one up post. It was pretty funny and strange. Anyway so ya, Italo’s gotta be waiting for his big kick out moment in the spotlight. Probably be a super man backflip throwing his index finger to the lord, all jacked up on Red Bull and plastic surgery.
Can’t avoid the Simpsons episode where Homer becomes a hugely successful victory claims’ choreographer.
Surfers rule hey. Where’s JP?