“I’ve never told anyone.”
In one of the odder revelations to come out of the rarified world of pro surfing, Gabriel Medina, the Brazilian three-time world champion, has revealed that the World Surf League charged him $30,000 for the official trophy commemorating his 2021 title.
You’ll remember that all-day bacchanal at Lowers. Medina, twenty-seven back then and a heavy favourite, marauded the Lowers lineup, attacking his enemy with a ferocious backhand attack jazzed up with lofty airs, including a version of the Flynnstone Flip, invented and popularised by Hawaiian Flynn Novak.
Medina only needed two of a possible three heats to win the title.
“How do you beat Gabriel Medina twice in one day? It’s very rare,” said Mick Fanning. “He has so many different ways to win.”
“To win, you have to cripple him!” said Kelly Slater.
“I’m crying I’m so happy,” said Medina.
The claim about the trophy, made during a video on the Uaradei YouTube channel, highlights an undisclosed practice by the WSL, and casts a bit of a shadow y’might say over the sport’s governing body.
Gabriel Medina explained that the trophy he received was a replica, not the original.
“I was waiting for my third world title,” Medina told the channel. “Then the guy said, ‘Do you want one of these? 30,000 dollars.’”
The cost, equivalent to roughly 160,000 Brazilian reais, stunned Medina, who possesses the original trophies from his 2014 and 2018 victories, and didn’t pay a cent for either of ‘em.
“I’ve never told anyone,” he added, breaking his silence on the issue.
The WSL, which oversees professional surfing’s global tour, has not publicly commented on Medina’s claim. The policy, if accurate, may have emerged during the league’s 2021 restructuring, which introduced the WSL Finals format.
No information has surfaced about whether subsequent champions, like Filipe Toledo or John John Florence, faced similar five-figure bills for their world title trophies.