Photographer Jérôme Brouillet has revealed how he captured what has widely been described as one of the best ever images of the Olympic Games - while shooting over 10,000 miles from Paris.
The Agence France-Press snapper took the picture of a lifetime of the surfer Gabriel Medina's airborne celebrations in the fifth heat of the men's surfing. In one of the most memorable images of the Games so far, the snap of the Brazilian competitor showed with his arm raised with his surf board perfectly lined up with him by his side.
Medina had just emerged from a barreling section of a fierce wave at Teahupo’o and seemed pleased with his efforts as he struck the impromptu pose. After the picture quickly garnered attention online, photographer Brouillet has now reflected on his works becoming an instantaneous viral sensation.
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Speaking on to AFP, he spoke about how the picture came about through a mix of good fortune and experience, saying: "Every photographer is waiting for that. You know Gabriel Medina, especially at Teahupo’o will kick off and do something. You know something is going to happen. The only tricky moment is where he is going to kick out?"
"When I’m shooting at Teahupo’o I don’t shoot in such a high burst mode, because at the end of the day, if you push too hard on the button you come back with 5,000 shots in a day, and I don’t like that! I got four shots of him out of the water and one of the four shots was this photo."
The ensuing acclaim for his stroke of genius with his camera has been plentiful, with TIME Magazine even christening the snap as TIME "the defining image of triumph of the 2024 Summer Games ". Meanwhile, the picture has also been liked over two million times on Medina's own Instagram page.
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In a separate conversation with the Guardian , Brouillet also reflected on how the reaction to the picture exploded within minutes of him taking the picture. With his snaps from that day quickly being shared by news agencies around the world, the photographer quickly realized that his work had struck a chord with the public.
"I was just checking my phone on the six-minute break after the shoot and I had lots of notifications on social media and I thought something is happening with this shot and it was shared on ESPN and I thought: 'cool'. It’s very cool, it’s a nice shot and lots of people love it. It’s not really a surf photograph so it captures the attention of more people."
In a humble final address on the snap, he acknowledged: "I got the shot of the day, I was with six talented photographers on the boat and for sure everyone will forget about it next week. Tomorrow won’t be any different."
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