Gabrielmedina

The image, shot by photographer Jérôme Brouillet during the Paris 2024 Olympics surfing event in Teahupo'o, Tahiti, captured Medina mid-air after a near-perfect scoring ride — arms spread wide, board beneath his feet, making him appear to levitate above the ocean. It became one of the most viral sports photographs of 2024 and circulated globally within hours of the competition. The pose looked physically impossible, which is exactly why it spread so fast.

Medina has won the WSL World Surf League Championship three times, making him one of the most decorated competitive surfers in history. His three titles are the foundation of his identity as an athlete and the reason he carries the title of Brazil's defining competitive surfer of his generation.

Medina won a bronze medal in surfing at the Paris 2024 Olympics, with the competition held at the legendary break of Teahupo'o in French Polynesia. It added an Olympic podium to his three WSL world titles and drew enormous celebration from his predominantly Brazilian fanbase.

Yes, Medininha is Gabriel Medina's dog and something of a celebrity in her own right — she has her own dedicated Instagram account at @medininhaoficial. Medina features her regularly in his content and has built a brand partnership with the Brazilian pet nutrition company BioNatural Pet centered on her.

Medina is a sponsored partner of BioNatural Pet, a Brazilian brand focused on natural nutrition for dogs. His posts for the brand are framed around Medininha and address real issues like skin sensitivity, itching, and allergies — a personal angle that makes the sponsorship feel genuine rather than generic.

Yes — posts on Medina's Instagram confirm a proposal, with the caption 'Ela disse sim' (She said yes) alongside ring emojis. He wrote that among all the achievements of his life, none compare to this moment — placing it above even his world surfing titles.

Medina and his stepfather and longtime coach Charles Saldanha had a highly publicized falling out around 2021–2022, which became one of the biggest stories in Brazilian sport that year. Saldanha had coached Medina since childhood and was widely credited for shaping his championship career, making the estrangement all the more dramatic when it became public.

Medina grew up in Maresias, a small beach community on the São Paulo coast that is well known within Brazilian surf culture. He is also closely associated with Saquarema in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil's premier competitive surf venue, where he has organized community surf events.

The Medininha Surf Day is a community surf event Medina has organized at Saquarema, one of Brazil's most storied surf breaks and a regular stop on the WSL Championship Tour. Medina described it in his own caption as something genuinely worth doing — a way of bringing fans and the local surf community together outside of official competition.

Medina has a Mega-tier presence on Instagram with over 12 million followers, with the vast majority based in Brazil. His engagement rate runs well above the category average for accounts at that scale, which is unusual and points to a highly active, loyal fanbase rather than passive growth.