Italo Ferreira won surfing’s first ever gold medal at the Olympics but if the reaction in his home town is anything to go by it won’t be the last for Brazil, one of the world’s top surf nations and a place where a generation of youngsters are at home on the waves.
Young surfers in Ferreira’s home town of Baia Formosa, a small seaside resort on Brazil’s paradisiacal northeastern coast, have long been inspired by the golden boy and his medal has helped give surfing a new respectability.
Daniel Grubba, who manages surfers for the One Sports Agency, was in Baia Formosa last week in search of talented young surfers to sign up. One of them was Maria Clara Dornelas, a 12-year old who lives in the town.
Maria Clara is an up-and-coming performer in local surf competitions and hopes to make surfing her career.
Although the beaches around Baia Formosa often boast ideal waves, the charge to the beach is not new in Brazil, a country with 7,491 km (4,654 miles) of coastline.
The top three surfers in the men’s World Surf League rankings are all Brazilian and one of the top five women is too.
Another woman, Maya Gabeira of Rio de Janeiro, last year broke the world record for surfing the biggest wave, a 22,4 m wall of water near Portugal.
However, Olympic inclusion and success has given the sport a huge boost.
“It’s cool to be able to inspire other people,” Ferreira said shortly after returning from Japan.
— ReutersÂ
