Embarrassed in Front of 11 Million, Brazilian Surfer Gabriel Medina Turns Dangerous Fall to a Meme

Punta Roca, El Salvador, is currently staging a surfing classic! After Tahiti Pro 2024, surfing fames have now arrived at the next Championship Tour pitstop, the Surf City El Salvador Pro. With this being the 7th out of 9 regular-season events, they are in for a high-stakes competition. However, Brazilian surfing maestro Gabriel Medina appears in great shape, coming off a solid third-mount finish at Teahupo’o. But, the tides recently turned his confident lark into a disastrous fall, which Medina himself feels is perfect meme material.

Gabriel Medina’s latest Instagram story shows a video of him from the said event. Casually gliding on his surfboard, the red-clad 3x World Surfing Champion is seen enjoying his round completion in style. However, facing frontward and doing celebratory hand actions, Medina remains oblivious to this giant swell behind. And as he turns back to notice it, he imbalances and falls into the water, a leg aloft. Thus, his aquatic frolic gets washed out by the wave.

This scenario gave Medina a good laugh. Attached to the story, he added a ‘Pac Pac’ sticker and the Pac-Man theme song in the background. By these, he seemed to signify that he celebrated his win quite early and got caught by a ghost unaware, like in the game. However, by publicizing this humorous take before his 11.4M followers, he established a specimen of handling light-hearted humor in the right spirit.

The clip was originally from the round of 16 where Medina faced a fierce Australian opponent, Ryan Callinan. The Brazilian surfer had just taken a brilliant turn, ascending the wave from its bottom and getting a massive extension. And with it, Medina gained a 16.17 lead, taking him to the Quarterfinals. Therefore, his preparation for his second Olympic appearance next month looks indeed spot on.

Gabriel Medina: a top surfing contender for Olympic glory

Currently slated 12th in the Men’s CT 2024 ranking as per the official WSL website, Gabriel Medina is one of the top prospects to bring Brazil an Olympic medal this year. He did have a rather slow start to the current season. But, after ending 17th at the Lexus Pipe Pro and the Hurley Pro Sunset Beach events, his massive comeback as 3rd at the MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal kindled great hopes.

Nonetheless, some of his most promising performances were seen at the recent Tahiti Pro 2024. Cruising through the eliminations and the round of 16, he met Callinan in the quarterfinals and defeated his 15.94 with an 18.96. Yet, after 4 waves, he lost to John John Florence in the semifinal by a 4.0 margin.

But he is surely eyeing the Olympic medal. After the Olympics qualifier at Arecibo, he spoke to Olympics.com in an exclusive, where he stated, “Being an Olympic medallist is my goal and I’m going to do everything I can to achieve that.” At Tokyo, he had fallen short in the semi-final round and even missed out on the race for bronze.

However, can Gabriel Medina get his redemption and debut Olympic medal this time? What do you think of his chances?