Gabriel Medina Has Already Gained 1.3M Instagram Followers From The Olympics
And he hasn’t even won the gold medal (yet).
Listen to a special Olympics edition of Stab’s podcast ‘The Drop’ here.
In 2021 Italo Ferreira teabagged the world, taking home surfing’s first-ever Olympic gold medal
With that win, the Brazilian received a $100,000 USD bonus from Billabong, somewhere in the vein of $50,000 USD from Brazil, and the real prize: 1.3 million Instagram followers.
Most impressive of all, Italo managed to woo these 1.3M surfing newcomers via air reverses at a mediocre Japanese beach break — not exactly awe-inspiring for the uninitiated, let alone aesthetically pleasing.
Jump ahead to 2024, to a tropical archipelago in the middle of the Pacific.
The waves unexpectedly pump on day three of the Olympics, and Gabriel Medina expectedly excels — so hard, in fact, that a flying kickout from the event’s best wave instantly becomes the most famous photo in surfing history.
Prior to the Paris Games, as we did Japan, we took a tally of each surfer’s social following to see how competing on a truly global platform like the Olympics would affect their growth.
We’ll do a full debrief after the event, but we felt it was worth noting that at just the midway point, Gabriel Medina has already matched Italo’s 1.3M mark — thanks almost entirely to the photo shot by Jerome Broulliet.
What Medina’s following will be by the medal ceremony, one can only imagine. But we’ll be sure to let you know.
Because so much has already happened in Tahiti, we couldn’t wait until the event finished to put out our next Olympics podcast. Stace and I sat down today to chat about Medina, seeding issues, and so forth, with my toes planted firmly in Tahiti’s volcanic-coral-cobblestone mix that locals call sand.
Also in this ep are cameos from three Olympic coaches of varying nationalities and allegiances: Shane Dorian, Mitch Ross, and Jake Paterson.
Listen here or on Apple Pods or Spotify (search: Stab Podcasts).
Comments
Comments are a Stab Premium feature. Gotta join to talk shop.
Already a member? Sign In
Want to join? Sign Up