Pup stars

Surfing competition in the Olympics began in the 2020 Games in Tokyo. It was also part of the recently concluded Paris Olympics and will be among the events in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The venue for the 2024 Olympics surfing was not in France but 10,000 miles away in Tahiti, in the French Polynesia, the host country’s semi-autonomous Pacific territory. One of the highlights of the competition was the record 9.9 score for a single wave run set by Brazilian surfer Gabriel Medina during the preliminary round on 29 July.

Another highlight was Medina’s iconic photo celebrating that near-perfect score, as snapped by Agence France-Presse photographer Jerome Brouillet from a cruise ship housing the athletes and the press.

The photo showing Medina and his surfboard airborne and parallel to each other wracked up nearly 10 million likes on his Instagram.

Awe and amusement were also felt by audience and participants of another surfing event in Linda Mar Beach, Pacifica, California on 3 August.

More for fun than competition, it drew a big crowd also because of its rarity. Judges scored the surfers based on how long they ride, how long they stay on the board and if they do any tricks.

The wave riders were not the surfers themselves but their pet dogs that also love to ride the waves. “Some tail-wagging surfers stayed standing on all fours while others chose to sit or lie down as their technique,” reports CBS News.

Cacau, a chocolate Labrador from Brazil, won the gold medal for herself and her owner, Ivan Moreira, after she made swift turns on the water that amazed the crowd watching from the beach, according to CBS News.