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Medina Fever In Maresias

Multi-million dollar contacts, Brazilian media going ga-ga and the world at his feet.

About two-and-a-half hours from Sao Paulo, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, is Maresias. A stunning beach, surrounded by mini mountains and plenty of greenery, a place that people say reminds them of Hawaii, Costa Rica, the best of East Coast Australia, or simply ‘home’.

Access used to be via a slippery, muddy road that snaked its way through the valleys and ultimately to the beach. If the fall was heavy, surfers would camp for a night and attempt the final stage of the route at daybreak, or whenever the rain eased.

That was a few decades ago. Now Maresias, like so many of the world’s hot spots, is populated by the rich n’ wealthy. Mansions and coastal retreats are tucked away in the hills, while travelling backpackers, and more and more surfers occupy the low-lying land close to the beach. There’s a tonne of resorts and accommodations to choose from, and right now there’s a big 6-star Prime event to watch too. It’s as big as surfing events get, without calling in the new ASP and running a fully-fledged WCT.

Maresias is also Gabriel Medina’s hometown. He lives just up the road from the event that is in full swing, and having the world number one back for a few days before he goes off to make history in Hawaii, is turning the joint, and everyone in it, slightly ga-ga.

It’s a good kind of ga-ga. After all, Gabriel is a pretty likeable bloke, especially for a 20 year-old with an incongruous amount of attention being heaped his way.

And the gravitas with which he is handling himself is compelling.

His entourage includes father Charles, who is also his coach; his mother Simone, doting brother n’ sister duo Felipe and Sophia; shaper Jonny Cabianca; video maker Henrique Daniel; ‘Functional Trainer’ Allan Menache, manager and agent Cesar Villares and Assistant Manager and uncle, Jaime.

I haven’t met Jaime before, so I introduce myself to him at the contest, as Gabriel makes his way back in from his heat against Julian Wilson. Gabe actually lost to Jules, but that doesn’t dent anyone’s enthusiasm. It takes him an age to traverse the 40 or so metres from the shoreline to the interview area, while he stops and poses for photos, signs autographs and generally lets people touch and be near him.

I tell Jaime Tracks doesn’t actually want to talk with Gabe – that can come later. Right now, we just want to share with crew in Australia, what it’s actually like, being in the thick of things, observing Medina Fever in full effect.

He laughs, and waves a hand in Medina’s direction where six security guards are present, ensuring nothing gets too crazy down on the sand; “Well, you can see.”

Jaime shows me Gabriel’s schedule for the week, it reads simply enough: “3rd to 9th Nov – competition, sponsors, meetings and TV programs, interviews”.

The Devil of course, is in the details.

“We only say ‘no’ when it is impossible for Gabriel’s schedule,” says Jaime. “We try to talk and help everybody.”

When Gabriel visited a local public school the other day he nearly had his shirt ripped off. The lil’ tackers went for him like a school of squealing piranhas.

When he joined us for dinner at our hotel a night later, the room froze when he walked in – those present needed a moment to comprehend that Medina had just walked in. What’s he doing here? …

At the event, the elder statesmen of Brazilian surfing greet Gabriel, shake his hand and pat him on the back. Gabriel knows who they all are and he smiles in return. He knows what he is about to achieve is, in part, their dream too. His success is also theirs.

A bevvy of stickers adorns each of his boards, the newest is “Samsung”. He is the only individual, reputedly, to sign with the ASP Tour’s techy umbrella sponsor.

A Tracks confidant estimates Gabe is now making seven to eight million dollars US a year. It could be more. But it’s believable when you consider he’s as famous as some soccer players in Brazil and a couple hundred grand was spent purely to announce and promote his logo with the help of a Brazilian based PR firm last year.

“Gabriel has a really good team working with him. We try to protect him and bring the best professionals in all areas. It’s not only one person, but a team,” says Uncle Jaime as Gabe comes over, plonks his board down and starts chatting with Adriano and Jadson Andre, fellow WCT’ers who came to watch him against Julian.

A pile of contest jerseys, replicas that no one will ever wear, are plonked in front of him. A sharpie pen appears and Gabe dutifully begins to sign, his writing hand on auto pilot. He keeps an eye on the waves and pauses intermittently whenever someone leans in for a selfie.

A pretty girl also wants a shot. He explains it’s best if they turn around and face the light – the result will be better – so they do.

On camera, the webcast world is waiting to see how he feels losing to Julian. He’s cool with it. Now he can go home, hang with his family and get ready for Hawaii.

I fire the obvious question, one he’s been asked a trillion times, “How are you going? How are you handling all the attention?”

His response is honest.

“It’s okay, it’s great to see so many people happy and I love the support. Sometimes it’s hard, but that’s okay. That’s how it is. But I want to say thank you. Thank you to everybody.”

And then he’s moving again. Never more than an inch at a time – more photos, more people, more autographs. But eventually he gets his security guards back around dhim and he’s headed with his entourage for the exit.

For the purposes of this article, I follow until he’s out near the street. A guard blocks traffic while two others work enthusiastically to keep people clear of Gabe’s vehicle.

He said he isn’t going to come back down and watch the finals. He’s got two days with his family at home and that’s where he’s going to stay.

Gaberial’s ride disappears and as his burly protection crew meander back to the front of the grandstand.

On the way, one fella pulls his phone out and shows it to the others. One of his colleagues does the same.

They’ve both managed to get selfies with Gabriel too.

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Your portal to cultural events happening in and around the surfing sphere.
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