Brazil’s Italo Ferreira claimed Olympic surfing’s first-ever gold medal on Tuesday, as American Carissa Moore won the women’s event.
Ferreira, who learned to surf standing on the foam box his father sold fish from, snapped his board on the first wave of his final against Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi.
He had to wait in the sea as a team official brought him a replacement, but he shook off the early setback to score 15.14 to Igarashi’s 6.60.
“I think it’s one of the best days of my life, for sure,” said Ferreira, the 2019 world champion.
“For me that was a long day, and it was a dream come true. In the last couple of months I have been training a lot, just to live in this moment.”