Tokyo Olympics 2021: Australian surfer Owen Wright wins bronze

He was once told he may never surf again. Now, Owen Wright has won Australia’s first-ever medal in the sport after defeating his Brazilian opponent.

Owen Wright has paid tribute to brain injury survivors after taking to the air for the first and only time of his Olympics campaign to celebrate a stunning bronze medal victory – Australia’s first-ever in the sport.

Wright, who in 2015 was told he may never surf again after suffering a traumatic brain injury on the WSL championship tour, defied the odds and the aerials of Brazilian opponent Gabriel Medina to snag the coveted bronze.

Wright’s totals of 6.50 and 5.47 were the lowest combined winning heat of the day – but enough against Medina, whose high-scoring aerials deserted him on the big stage.

“I feel like I’m walking on a cloud. I couldn’t be any prouder,” Wright told Channel 7.

“My heart was beating so hard and I was taking wave after wave on the head. The conditions were crazy. I just stayed focused.”

Owen Wright took to the air for the first and only time of his Olympics campaign to celebrate a stunning bronze medal victory. Picture: Getty Images

Wright said he hoped the bronze medal would inspire other traumatic brain injury survivors to never give up.

“It’s all possible. Don’t give up. Keep striving to get back there. I went through some tough times, I was three years into it and I was getting the Olympics (and) surfing to spur me on to my best,” Wright said.

“The Olympics to me has been like that beacon of light. I was going through some really tough times. I had some long-lasting symptoms. I questioned whether or not I would do the sport again.”

Wright’s wife, who hasn’t seen her husband for more than two months, watched the emotional event unfold at home in Australia.

Owen Wright with his wife Kita Alexander and young son. Picture: Instagram

I’m beyond proud. I don’t have words for how proud I’m feeling. It was so beautiful to watch him win that,” Kita Alexander told Channel 7.

“I can’t believe my husband’s an Olympian, let alone the first Australian surfer to ever win a medal at the Olympics.”

Alexander said Wright had beaten all the odds to make it back from his brain injury.

“Look the head injury, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever dealt with, and, you know, for him to come back from there and to be where he is today is just a testament to how hard he’s worked,” she said.

“To see him progress through all of this heartache and body pain and head pain, to get here, is, I think, such a testament and I just hope he becomes this beautiful image for Australia that if you suffer an injury or a setback, that if you put your heart and body and mind to it, you can achieve anything.”

A jubilant Owen Wright after his medal-winning ride. Picture: Getty Images

Wright missed out on a chance for gold for Australia after being consigned to the bronze medal playoff at Tsurigasaki Beach.

The New South Welshman’s carving backhand manoeuvres were not considered as highly by the judges as Italo Ferreira’s aerials in Tuesday’s semi-final.

“I felt like I had great heat strategy and got some good waves. I didn’t execute on that. One nice wave in the middle of the heat, went a touch too high,” Wright said.

Ferreira meanwhile will surf for gold against local Japanese hope Kanoa Igarashi, who earlier produced the best heat score of the Olympics (17.00) to progress past Medina.