It looks like the best photo likely to come from the Paris Olympics was taken 10,000 miles away, in Tahiti.
A stunning shot of the Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina kicking off a wave after nailing a tube run in the Olympic heats in the French Pacific colony has gained instant icon status.
It was taken by Jérôme Brouillet, a photographer with Agence France-Presse who was covering the surfing contest at Teahupo’o on Monday from a small boat with half a dozen colleagues.
Brouillet told the Guardian the conditions were perfect and he was ready for Medina to unleash his trademark celebration if he had a good run.
“So he is at the back of the wave and I can’t see him and then he pops up and I took four pictures, and one of them was this one,” Brouillet said.
“It was not hard to take the picture. It was more about anticipating the moment and where Gabriel will kick off the wave.”
Brouillet was proud of his “very cool” shot but said Tuesday would be just another day.
“I got the shot of the day, I was with six talented photographers on the boat and for sure everyone will forget about it next week. Tomorrow won’t be any different,” he said.
Medina had appealed for a perfect wave score of 10 after Monday’s outing, but had to make do with a 9.90, leaving him top of the scoreboard.
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