Three-time champion Gabriel Medina announced that he must take a break from surfing to take care of his mental health, and issued a warning to his fans on the subject.
Three-time surfing world champion Gabriel Medina announced that he will not be in the first 2 stages of the 2022 World Surfing League (WSL) season. The event should start last Saturday (24), in Pipeline, Hawaii. However, the champion did not attend. When Gabriel Medina retired from surfing, he made a point of commenting on the reasons. According to him, he needs to treat emotional issues as well as a slight lower back injury before returning to sea. Thus, the athlete made a long outburst to his fans.
“2021 was an incredible year for me, I achieved my biggest dream as a surfer, which was to become a three-time world champion. It was something untouchable for me. Last year, I experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in and out of the water, which really affected my mental and physical health. By the end of the season, I was exhausted. I reached my limit. I got my vaccine during the holidays and thought I would be able to prepare in time for the first stage of the new season, which starts at one of my favorite peaks in the world, Pipe. That wasn’t the case.”
Furthermore, last year, Medina broke up with his stepfather, who was his coach, Charles Rodrigues. In this sense, the crisis that was professional also became familiar. And the changes didn’t stop for the surfer, who spent Christmas with his father for the first time in 20 years. Soon after, he made the announcement that his mental recovery was as important as his physical one.
Gabriel Medina takes time away from surfing to take care of his mental health
In his statement saying that Gabriel Medina is moving away from surfing, the champion also commented, more succinctly: “I have decided that I will not travel to Hawaii and will take some time off so that I can recover mentally and physically. I have a slight hip injury that I have been treating since the end of last year. In addition to my body, I have emotional issues that I need to deal with. I’m coming from very exhausting months.”
He then explained that talking about emotional issues is difficult for him, and revealed that he even thought about not giving any kind of explanation about his decision not to go to the championship. Even so, he thanked his fans and left a message for the public to take greater care of their mental health.
“Recognizing and admitting to myself that I am not well has been a very difficult process, and choosing to take time to take care of myself was perhaps the most difficult decision I have ever made in my entire life. I’ve questioned myself a lot recently whether I should make this public or keep it private, but it’s only fair that all of you who have always supported me know the moment I’m facing. Mental health is very important. I need to be 100% mentally to compete again”, confessed Medina.
