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This Olympic Surfer Set A Record, And So Should This Photo

Gabriel Medina was caught in midair letting the judges know he should be given first place. And he was.

This photo is amazing and not AI, y'all. Photographer Jerome Brouillet snapped this shot when surfer Gabriel Medina had just finished a great run.

Washington Post:

The image, captured by Jerome Brouillet for Agence France-Presse, showed Medina and his tethered board appearing to perform parallel levitations above the South Pacific Ocean. Rather than a scene of serenity, however, the photo told a striking tale of the Olympics’ competitive spirit, given that Medina was using his right arm and raised index finger to make a “No. 1” gesture while in midair.

The 30-year-old Medina, a three-time World Surf League champion, had good reason to proclaim his primacy. He had expertly dropped into a barrel and emerged on the other side not just with aplomb, but with all his fingers raised in a signal to judges to award him a perfect 10. Some did just that, and Medina came away with a score of 9.90 that marked a new Olympic record for a single wave run.

Medina scored high enough to move to the quarterfinal, where we can only hope for a score as big as this for both surfer and photographer.

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