The man who learned to surf on a styrofoam cooler lid in Baía Formosa, Brazil, became the first-ever surfing Olympic gold medal winner at Tsurigasaki Beach 40km from Tokyo. During the event, Ferreira broke his first choice surfboard in difficult conditions fuelled by a tropical storm and needed a back-up. He defeated Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi in the final. For Ferreira, the win capped off a remarkable sequence of success as he went from 2019 world champion to Olympic gold medallist. He said: “All of my accomplishments have been important to me, but I think this Olympic gold means the most because I was the first one."