Gabriel Medina wins place for the Paris Games – 03/03/2024 – Sport

Gabriel Medina will be at the Paris Olympic Games. The Brazilian secured his place this Sunday (3). He won the International Surfing Association’s Isa Games, held in Puerto Rico. As a result, Brazil was the team champion of the competition and was entitled to an extra place in Paris.

As Medina was the best placed Brazilian in the tournament –Yago Dora fell before the semi-finals–, the place goes to him.

It was a fierce dispute between the countries. In addition to Brazil, France and Spain still had chances of winning the competition this Sunday. The Spanish fell by the wayside with the elimination of Andy Criere in the repechage prior to the semi-finals, and the dispute was between the other two countries.

As Dora was also eliminated, Medina had to win the tournament and hope that no Frenchman came second. The combination was not easy since, in the final, contested by four athletes, there were two Frenchmen. But that’s what happened.

In the decision, Medina won with a score of 16.40, and Moroccan Ramzi Boukhiam came in second place, with 15.34. Frenchman Kauli Vaast came third, with 14.33, and his compatriot Joan Duru, fourth, with 7.10.

Brazil, therefore, finished the tournament with 1941 points, against 1900 for France and 1318 for Spain.

The Brazilian representatives in men’s surfing at the Paris Games – the event will be held in Tahiti – will be, in addition to Medina, Filipe Toledo and João Chianca, Chumbinho.

It will be the second time that surfing will be present at the Olympics. In its debut, at the Tokyo 2020 Games, Brazil won the gold medal in the men’s competition, with Ítalo Ferreira.

Medina was favorite for gold at that year’s Games, but ended up finishing fourth, without a medal. He had a good competition until the end of the semifinals, when he was upset by Kanoa Igarashi.

The São Paulo native, from São Sebastião, made a complaint about the grades given to him and the Japanese, who played at home, in the dispute.

“It’s sad when that happens. A lot of people sent messages… It’s difficult to spend the year training, trying hard and getting to this point. But I did my part, I’m excited, I did my best and now it’s time to keep working. There are things that I can’t understand it, but it had to be like this,” he said.

About six months later, at the beginning of 2022, the surfer announced that he would give up competing in the first stages of the WSL (World Surf League) that year to take care of his mental health.

“As much as I want to be in the water surfing and competing, I’m not physically or emotionally fit for it. And recognizing that I’ve reached my limit has been a tough process. At the end of last year, I injured my hip. Since then, I was undergoing physiotherapy, I got the vaccine and I’ve been taking care of myself to be well this year. However, I’m still not 100%,” he said in a note at the time.

He returned to the circuit in May, in Indonesia. Shortly afterwards, however, he was injured in a competition in Saquarema (RJ) and was out for another four months.

Three-time world champion in the sport (2014, 2018 and 2021), Medina once again arrives at the Olympics as one of the favorites.

In 2022, Medina had to take a break from his career to, according to him, take care of his mental health. At the time, he gave up competing in the start of the WSL. “I’m coming from exhausting months. And I need to look at myself right now and take care of myself. For someone who is not well, making a decision like this is not easy,” he said at the time.

In August 2023, already disqualified in the WSL Finals and out of contention for a fourth championship on the world circuit, Gabriel Medina no longer had a chance of qualifying individually for the Olympics. The only way to guarantee a place was with team scoring to guarantee an Olympic place at the ISA Games, if Brazil finished first, which happened this Sunday.

Brazil also won an extra place for Paris in the women’s competition. Tatiana Weston-Webb was runner-up in the Isa and, with that, secured the team victory for the country in the women’s category as well. As she herself is already qualified for the Olympic Games, Luana Silva, eliminated earlier in the tournament, inherited the place.

Tatiana came second in the final, with 12.24 points. The champion was Sally Fitzgibbons, from Australia, with 13.10. In the dispute for countries, Brazil received 1755 points, against 1720 for the Oceanian country.

In addition to Tatiana and Luana, Brazil will also be represented by Tainá Hinckel at the Olympics.