Surfing will debut at the Olympics this year and there's a strong chance that gold medal will be draped over a Brazilian's neck.
For decades, surfing has been associated with Californians with bleached blond hair, Australians and of course the first real crossover star, Kelly Slater.
But now, Brazil have claimed four of the last six World Surf Tour titles - boast the top three ranked surfers in the world and the country's dominance has been dubbed 'The Brazilian Storm'.
Italo Ferreira (pictured) is the current champion and will be at the Olympics in Japan
Gabriel Medina (right) is the other athlete to represent Brazil this summer
Gabriel Medina's first title back in 2014 marked a seismic shift and opened the floodgates. He is one of the big three along with countrymen, Italo Ferreira and Felipe Toledo.
Medina's triumph came at a time of national mourning for Brazil. The football mad nation had been knocked out of their own World Cup in the most humiliating fashion possible, a crushing 7-1 defeat by Germany.
There was desperation for a good news story and so Globo, the country's most popular television channel, decided to follow Medina for a short docu-series as he attempted to become Brazil's first WSL champion.
Globo pulls in an average of 70 million viewers a day and Brazil has a population of 210 million people, the reach and exposure was like nothing before and Medina became a superstar.
He is a fully fledged celebrity, regularly seen on TV and in gossip magazines. He is friends with Neymar and has 8.7 million Instagram followers.
To put that into some kind of context, Kelly Slater, the most successful surfer in history and formerly of Baywatch fame, has 2.7m.
Of course, success breeds success and Brazilian stars have some of the most lucrative sponsorship deals on tour as their audience is greater.
The likes of Gillette, Mitsuishi, Ralph Lauren and Corona have their brands plastered all over the boards and the level of interest has gone through the roof.
Ferreira won his first world title back in 2019 and was greeted by a huge crowd upon returning home. He featured in adverts for insurance and was even given his own reality show, titled: 'Parque do Italo'.
There are massive sponsorship opportunities for the best Brazilian surfers
Medina is good friends with Neymar and has a huge public profile in his homeland
Perhaps it should not be a great surprise that a country of one millions surfers with 4000 miles of coastline should eventually rise to the top of the surfing world.
The climate is surf-friendly with almost 12 hours of daylight, warm temperatures and most major cities near the sea.
Sao
