Gabriel Medina has the most liked photo of the Olympics

Bronze medalist at the Olympics, Gabriel Medina was the champion of likes on social media.

The surfer had 9 million likes on the photo by photographer Jérôme Brouillet, from France Presse, in which he appears “flying” over the sea with his board at his side.

According to data from Meta, Gabriel Medina is the most popular Brazilian athlete who competed in the Olympics. The surfer has more than 14 million followers on Instagram alone. Rebeca Andrade, the greatest medalist in Brazil’s history, comes in right behind, with 11.4 million. Rayssa Leal is also a standout, with almost 10 million followers.

At the Paris Olympic Games, surfing also appeared among the highest audiences on TV Globo and even beat the exhibition that gave gold and silver medals to gymnast Rebeca Andrade.

According to the consolidated data, the surfing broadcast, which resulted in a bronze medal for Gabriel Medina and a silver medal for Tatiana Weston-Webb, reached a total of 47.5 million people on Globo and SporTV.

The number represented an increase of 5.9 million people, or 14%, compared to the four Mondays before the start of the Games.

The president of the world surfing league in Latin America, Ivan Martinho, says that the medals won by Medina and Tatiana Weston-Webb mean that the sport is already consolidated in Brazil.

“The fundamental step is to make surfing visible and consumed not just every four years, at the Olympics or during the world championships. The exposure is already great and grows every year. And the goal is to bring the athletes and the sport closer to the fans, humanizing surfing and making people create this constant identification,” he says.