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Honestly, I haven’t watched much of the Olympics. I spent the first 11 days of the Paris 2024 Games with my head firmly stuck in the surfing event in Tahiti. It didn’t help that I was on the exact opposite side of the world, 12 hours behind the other events in Paris. As a result, I got my non-surfing Olympic news through social media and the slew of viral memes that have come out of these Games.
Viral memes are how the youth is consuming the Olympics. A Norwegian swimmer has become famous on Tiktok for his adoration of the chocolate muffins at the Olympic Village. A Korean shooter has risen to fame for her cool style, while a Turkish shooter went viral for his nonchalant approach. A U.S. gymnast is now known as “pommel horse guy” after seemingly sleeping during the event and waking up in time to win gold. A French pole vaulter became known online after his manhood cost him a chance at the podium.
Surfing has been no exception. Viral moments have driven the popularity of the sport on social media. Here are its three most influential online moments.
Gabriel Medina’s viral kickout
After blasting out of the best barrel that we saw at the 2024 Olympics, Medina kicked out of the wave and flew perpendicular to the water with his arm and index finger extended. As his board trailed on his leash, there was a millisecond when it was parallel to his body, both he and the board floating in the Tahitian clouds.
Jerome Brouillet, a French photographer now based in Tahiti, just happened to click his camera at that moment. The photo quickly broke the internet. Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton and soccer star Neymar shared it with their combined 260 million Instagram followers. Brouillet himself gained 211,000 followers in a matter of days. The photo penetrated far beyond the endemic surf audience.
That photo was significant on multiple levels for surfing. It showed how Medina’s star power can single-handedly lift the sport’s popularity, how one moment can change the trajectory of a sport’s online/television metrics, and how surfing’s appeal goes far beyond just the core audience when on the Olympic platform.
tim elter fazendo história nas olimpíadas
— dalila 🏄🏼♂️ (@lrdalila) July 27, 2024
Tim Elter’s full moon
Before Medina’s photo existed, German surfer Tim Elter had his moment of fame. The power of the wave at Teahupo’o is no joke and it showed when the force of the water took Elter’s shorts off. As he went for a duck dive with his shorts around his legs he gave the live broadcast a classic full moon that soon thereafter started circulating the internet.
Despite getting eliminated early in round two and showing the whole world his behind, I like how Elter took the moment in stride and in good humor. He posted several full-moon memes to his Instagram story, joining in on the laughs.
Even the whales are watching #Olympics surfing in Tahiti.
🎥 @NBCOlympicspic.twitter.com/MVEJYYirMw
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 6, 2024
Whales join the surfers on finals day
On finals day, the surf competition received one final blessing from Tahiti’s resident marine life. Whales were frolicking outside the lineup and breaching in plain view of the surfers.
For surfers, seeing whales, dolphins, and/or seals during a session isn’t bizarre. It’s part of the sport’s innate connection with nature. But all the non-surfers watching from afar found it unbelievable that a surfing final could coincide with breaching whales.
The whales’ timing was pretty cool. If the rest of the Olympians weren’t already a bit jealous that the surfers got to compete in the paradise of Tahiti, whales joining the show added an extra touch of FOMO to close the event.
