NEGACIONISMO? | Gabriel Medina afirma que não tomou a vacina contra Covid-19 oferecida pelo COB e perderá etapa do Mundial de Surf. Informação foi confirmada pelo próprio atleta em live. Confira: https://t.co/YSpO3ANtau pic.twitter.com/8YjokvdEcF
— LeiaJá Esportes (@LeiaJaEsportes) August 5, 2021
Gabriel Medina, currently sitting atop the world rankings, told his Twitch audience while playing Fortnite recently (a game with more than 350 million active users) that he would not be at the World Surf League’s Teahupoʻo event in Tahiti because he hasn’t taken the vaccine.
Due to French regulations, Medina would have to quarantine 10 days after leaving Mexico in Tahiti before he would be able to compete, which is problematic given the timing.
We sent the Twitch admission (in Portuguese) to one of our trusted Brazilian-speaking contributors who translated the dialogue for us: “I’m not going to Teahupoʻo because I didn’t get vaccinated,” Medina says. “And I need to do 10 days quarantine, then I won’t have time to go from Mexico to there because it’s right after. I’ll be forced not to go… sucks… But it’s okay, I can discard one contest, it’s okay.”
Medina has a healthy lead over Italo Ferreira (more than 13,000 points) and Filipe Toledo (third), who would both need wins and top finishes to overtake him for the number one spot. And even if that were to happen, Medina would still qualify for the WSL Championships at Trestles in September.
Medina made the announcement rather casually while tapping away on his Fortnite controller – a video game many athletes use to wind down these days – which was another signal to me that he’s in a good place mentally. I spoke with him on the beach in Japan briefly about his mental state this year, which has been night and day from watching him at events in the past.
“It’s been fun, I’ve been taking life easier,” he told me. “I want to enjoy my moment. I used to have a lot of pressure. When I touch the water now I think about nothing. I have my wife Yasmin. My life has changed after that. I’m so happy to live in this moment. It feels good to feel like a human being and not just a comp machine. It’s just different. It was good to stay home for a while (with the pandemic). I just want to enjoy the moment.”
Medina didn’t address the current vaccine debate raging around the world and no word yet if other athletes on the CT would need to take similar steps due to skipping the shot. Stay tuned.
