Vitor Oliveira

Jérôme Brouillet was at the right place and at the right time - Teahupoo, Tahiti, 9:30:38 a.m., July 29, 2024. The breathtaking photo of Gabriel Medina seemingly floating in the air, pointing towards the sky, with his surfboard perfectly parallel to him, went viral around the globe in a matter of hours. Was it a stroke of luck? Had it all been strategically planned? The image captured by the 39-year-old French photographer looked so unreal that some people thought it might have been edited with Photoshop. But it wasn't - this was a real moment of Olympic magic that could be hung and displayed forever in the Louvre Museum. Gabriel Medina was competing in Round 3 against Jack Robinson at the infamous reef pass of Teahupoo . On his second ride, the Brazilian caught a huge wave and got slingshot out of a huge five-meter barrel. Before launching into the air, the three-time world champion raised his two hands to ask for a Perfect 10 from the judging panel. Jérôme Brouillet, the...

It only took a year for the face and presence of the World Tour to look and feel completely different, so great was the transformation brought on by ASP World Tour director Ian Cairns and this new generation of hungry, talented, and competition-ready surfers. It was a swift and decisive changing of the guard. Thankfully, I was young enough, hungry enough and ranked highly enough to not get swept aside like so many of my elder IPS peers. They either didn't like the new format, all of the additional events, the presence of more beach breaks, loss of the Hawaiian events... or simply aged out. It was out with the old and in with the new! The new guard was led by Martin Potter, Tom Curren, Mark Occhilupo, Derek Ho, Barton Lynch and Damien Hardman. They were all young and extremely talented, and they were quickly finding their traction into the World Tour Top 10. All of these surfers would eventually become future world champions. So I sensed, going into 1984, what my future held....

The true face of Teahupo'o began to show itself today with solid 10-foot sets unloading the full power of the Pacific Ocean onto the sharp, shallow reef. It was an unbelievable display, featuring the world's best surfers providing a show like no other on sporting's biggest stage, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A completed Round 3 decided Quarterfinalists on the men's side, with competition called off due to deteriorating conditions before the women could hit the water. The biggest names in men's surfing didn't hold back in pursuit of an Olympic Gold Medal. Brazil's Gabriel Medina and France's Joan Duru took top honors. Medina set a new record for the highest single wave score in Olympic history, a 9.90, and Duru lodged the highest heat total, 18.13. Duru's record landed just 0.03 ahead of João Chianca's 18.10. Chianca claimed victory in a tight battle against Ramzi Boukhiam (MAR) that was one for the history books. Underdog victories from ...

On November 26, 2021, I lost one of my best friends, Michael Kramer. Kramer passed away in a tragic car accident. Kramer and I had a weird way of coming in and out of each other's lives since we were 15 years old. We both participated in conventional sports together, but they all failed in comparison to our love for surfing. I was always way more intense when it came to anything competitive whereas Kramer could just go with the flow. We both tried our hardest, holding tight to the passion it takes to chase this lifelong search. Kramer was a traveling architect, me, struggling in the extremely cold world of New Jersey Juvenile Corrections. Months, even a year, would pass without speaking. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I would get a phone call or text, and without missing a beat, we'd be linking up to surf in Spring Lake or Deal, NJ. Taking advantage of the swell, surfing, and laughing together as the sun disappeared. I wrote this poem as a tribute to my friend. I d...

The pressure went up, and emotions rose on the second day of surfing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Round 2 was completed for both men and women, with 16 surfers bowing out of the event as the first eliminations took place. The three-to-five-foot waves on offer were occasionally topped by bigger sets, all offset by a wild mix of wind that showed various shades of strength. ISA Under 16 world junior champion Filipe Toledo (BRA) claimed the highest heat total of the day and his Teahupoo career to defeat Billy Stairmand (NZL). In the final heat of the day, the 29-year-old father of two clicked into gear, casually driving through barrels to earn a 9.67 and 7.33 for a 17.00 heat total. The two-time World Surf League (WSL) world champion entered the lineup with a solid game plan, and it paid off. "That was the strategy since I woke up this morning," Toledo said. "Give him a little bit of hassle at the start, get that inside position, and not leave that inside positio...

Over 15,000 kilometers from the host city, Olympic surfing debuted for Paris 2024 in the deep blue waters of French Polynesia. Two years of qualification events across the globe culminated in a beautiful first day of competition, featuring clean four-to-six feet of swell and barely any wind.  The intimidating reef of one of the world's most dangerous waves , Teahupoo, could be clearly seen through the crystal clear barrels that were expertly navigated by the world's best surfers as Round 1 was completed for both men and women. No eliminations took place today, with first place in each heat progressing into Round 3 and the remaining two surfers reseeded into Round 2. It was a day full of what Tahitians call "Mana," with a strong camaraderie across the field, none more so than that of Team USA, whose five members include the current world number 1 and 2 of both the men and women, along with Tokyo 2020 gold medalist and five-time world champion Carissa Moore. In th...