An astonishing image of a surfer celebrating while appearing to ‘stand on air’ has been dubbed the ‘picture of the Olympics‘.
Brazilian Gabriel Medina paused briefly in the air with his board in tow as he raised an arm to supporters along the Tahiti coast after delivering a breathtaking performance to earn a score of 9.9 – the best of the Paris Olympics so far.
The three-time world champion appeared to settle on a cloud mid-air in the defining image of the tournament snapped by AFP’s Jérôme Brouillet some 16,000km from the heart of the action in the French capital.
Medina, 30, was competing against Japan‘s Kanoa Igarashi in the fifth heat of the men’s round three Surfing, making up for a lowly score of 2.5 on his first wave with an almost perfect 9.9 on his second.
The photographer was on a boat in the channel, waiting patiently for Medina to ‘kick out’ and exit the wave face at the end of his run, taking the shot just as the athlete pointed to the sky and capturing a moment to quickly become a global sensation.

Medina raised his hand to the sky as he ‘kicked out’ to end his record-beating run

The surfer had scored poorly on his first attempt but received a 9.9 for his second effort

The surfers have been competing in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, some 16,000km from Paris
Medina sailed his board up to the crest of the wave as he completed his record-breaking run on Monday.
In a split-second, he made the jump from its top to hover briefly in the air, appearing to stand on a cloud as Brouillet captured the moment.
Brouillet caught Medina soaring ramrod-straight above the waves pointing one finger in the sky, his surfboard pointing skyward at his side.
‘Every photographer is waiting for that. You know Gabriel Medina, especially at Teahupo’o will kick off and do something,’ said Brouillet.
‘You know something is going to happen. The only tricky moment is where he is going to kick out? Because I’m blind!
‘Sometimes he makes an acrobatic gesture and this time he did that and so I pushed the button.’
Medina’s 9.9 score, of a possible 10, made the run the Olympic record for a single wave ride.
But it was his photo that garnered the most attention, soon dubbed the ‘defining image of the 2024 Summer Games’ by TIME Magazine.
Medina posted the image on his own Instagram account, quickly attracting more than 2.4 million likes.
Some thought the image must have been edited, left in disbelief at how all the components came together in that fraction of a second.
‘Damn that’s crazy… it looks fake,’ wrote Twitter/X user 30problemz.
‘You know the picture is elite when people [are] calling it fake,’ jibed user Ants_Revenge.
‘It’s a bummer man. But that’s the way it is now. An amazing photo is reduced to just looking like photoshop,’ replied user thetasteofoink.

Gabriel Medina of Brazil rides a wave during Heat 5 of the event in French Polynesia

His photo was soon dubbed the ‘defining image of the 2024 Summer Games’ by TIME

Medina’s 9.9 score, of a possible 10, made the run the Olympic record for a single wave ride

Medina reacts during round three of the Men’s Surfing competition in Tahiti
‘When people ask what Aura is just show them this photo,’ wrote That_Hurts.
‘It must be the photographer’s best shot of all time. What a photograph by Jerome Brouillet,’ added Harsh Gautam.
‘Best picture of his life I’m sure. This is so dope man,’ user SonicsMuse weighed in.
Despite the accolades, Brouillet said celebrations would have to wait because he still had the rest of the competition to shoot.
‘I’m sleeping at a friend’s house near Teahupo’o and we’ll have a quiet one because if tomorrow the event is on, I have to wake up at five in the morning!’