Paris Olympics 2024: Australian cameraman Samuel Smith on Jack Robinson’s near drowning
A surfing photographer who witnessed Aussie Olympic Jack Robinson’s near drowning has described the brutal Tahiti break confronting surfers as “like going 20 rounds with Mike Tyson without any breath”.
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The man who witnessed Jack Robinson’s near drowning from under the water has opened up about the terrifying Olympic incident and revealed his own dice with death on the same day.
Australian Samuel Smith is the Olympic Broadcast Services leading cameraman who has been spending 10 hours straight in the ocean shooting the incredible vision of surfers taking on Tahiti’s famous Teahupo’o wave, considered one of the heaviest and most dangerous in the world.
The 47-year-old from Byron Bay has spent 20 years capturing moments that are equally captivating as they are scary and is in the water in Tahiti with the likes of Australian photographers Ted Grambeau and Tim McKenna.
One of those moments came in round 2 of the men’s Olympic surfing competition on Tuesday (AEST) when Robinson was held under for two waves before going on to complete two heat-winning waves in one of the most courageous moments of the Games.
While viewers see Robinson disappear under the surface, Smith was in the danger zone with him and witnessed the 26-year-old getting battered to the point he nearly died in swell reaching up to three-times overhead.
“I saw him get punished. To have a two-wave hold down at Teahupo’o is terrifying,” Smith said.
Smith knows first-hand what it feels like because he fell victim to the wave a few heats earlier on the same day.
“I got flogged on the day of the big swell too,” Smith said.
“I was on the inside filming (Frenchman) Kauli Vaast and one of the biggest sets of the entire day came in. I punched under a wave and basically got trapped by the boats and got sucked straight back over the falls.
“I was lifted up by the lip and smashed on to the reef. I hit it hard with my helmet so it was lucky I was wearing it. I was pinned and had to go back to my training. As the next wave was draining off the reef I pushed off the bottom to get a quick breath before three more waves came through.
“You have to wait until that moment because it’s too powerful. People have no comprehension of what Teahupo’o is like. It’s like going 20 rounds with (former world heavyweight boxer) Mike Tyson under water without any breath, then landing three or four stories down on to a concrete block which is actually reef.
“You get dragged across it until you get pinned down, run out of breath, think you are going to die and then if you are lucky enough you get to the surface before it happens again, and again, and again. If you panic you will drown. Straight up.”
It was one only two times Smith has been sucked up over the lip of a wave at Teahupo’o but not the only dramatic moment he has witnessed in his career.
Smith was on a jet ski in South Africa in 2015 when Mick Fanning was attacked by a great white shark and was part of the team that rushed to pick him and fellow Australian Julian Wilson up out of the water.
He assisted Sally Fitzgibbons when she ruptured her eardrum in Fiji in 2015 and has seen spinal fractures at Teahupo’o when surfers hit the reef.
Smith and his fellow film and photography team all have extensive water and safety training so they are equipped to deal with every scenario. He has his own safety crew at Teahupo’o who purely watch him in the water and are ready to pounce should something go wrong.
“I do water safety as well. My main role is to film but all the athletes know I am there for water safety before the camera work,” Smith said.
“You have to put the hours in to really understand what the waves are doing, what the ocean is doing and to build relationships and trust with the athletes is a big one.
“They need to know that you are not going to get in their way and you will take an absolute flogging from a wave and land on the reef instead of getting in the way.
“They know you care more about their wave than the shot.”
Smith has also witnessed some of surfing’s most spectacular moments in recent memory.
He witnessed one of the world surf tour’s greatest finals ever at Teahupo’o in 2014 between US athletes Kelly Slater and John John Florence where they both produced two-wave scores of 19.77 in huge conditions.
The former semi-professional skateboarder and snowboarder also witnessed Australian Owen Wright’s incredible 19.07 two-wave total in a quarterfinal on his way to winning the 2019 Tahiti Pro.
“It’s been a great career so far,” Smith said.
“In the industry I’m known as an athlete with a camera so I do things from surfing, water filming, filming sharks, expeditions and mountain climbing.
“Last year I rode motorbikes across the Himalayas and then kayaked the highest river in the world.
“Basically I love anything that takes endurance and camera work for filming and photography and telling stories.
“I have got the best job in the world and I hope to do a few more Olympics if I can.”
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