Gabriel Medina is about to become Brazil's first world surfing champion. "Yes, Gabs, you were by far and away the best surfer in the comp. Hands down. And man do I love to watch you surf. But on behalf of all the groms out there, please, stick to the Primes and World Tour comps from here on out. Give the other kids a chance to make a name for themselves," it said. Already this year, Gabriel had won two of the previous six World Tour events. And then, on Wednesday, there they were. King Kelly and his heir apparent. Gabriel had played a smart game all week. He hadn't fallen off once, something that can not only squeeze the wind out of your lungs and tear the skin off your body but squash your confidence. There was no flash in Gabriel's approach, just expert tactics and flawless surfing. An approach that has netted Australian Mick Fanning three world titles.

A pre-comp wipeout at Teahupoo left one surfer with a fractured skull. Credit:Gregory Boissy The waves stood as high as telegraph poles before bending over themselves and exploding on a coral reef just a few feet below the surface. The surfers traded waves. Gabriel maintained a lead until the final seconds when he fell on his first wave of the event. Shaken, he was ferried back to the waves on the back of a jet ski. And then a wave appeared. Kelly needed an almost perfect ride. But Gabriel had priority (a system where surfers take turns on waves). If he went, even if he fell, he would win. If he let Kelly go, he could lose. Handing away priority to Kelly Slater had surfing fans second-guessing Gabriel Medina. Credit:Gregory Boissy He let Kelly go.

Was he so rattled that he'd rather throw the result into the hands of the gods rather than touch another Teahupoo wave? Who knew? Before Teahupoo, Gabriel Medina had already won two of the six World Tour events. Credit:Michael Parris Kelly rode the wave as well it could be ridden and the final finished. The judges studied the ride but, eventually, determined that Kelly had fallen short of the score of he needed. And so Gabriel won. A fairytale complete. The boy beats the master. A baton changing hands. Gabriel's world title all but a foregone conclusion as the tour enters its final third. The response, however, and especially from the Australian surfing community, wasn't just muffled, it was furious.

On the internet forums, Gabriel, it was said, "is the Miley Cyrus of professional surfing." "In his one wipe-out of the whole contest, which was due to taking off on the only truly heavy AND deep wave he attempted the whole time, he came up looking for his dad, with that pouty look he likes to throw around. " "Medina is a pussy who didnt go on any of the big sets the entire event." "Medina still has an asterisk next to his name and will not be a popular champion and it isn't because he's Brazilian." There are hundreds of similar comments, and plenty of mud thrown back by Brazilians. But why is Gabriel so unpopular among Australians? The last comment, above, is particularly telling, because it is about Brazil.

Australians and Brazilian surfers have always had a strained relationship. When surfing really took off in the 1980s and Brazilians started to appear at waves around the world there was a sudden clash of approaches to the sport. Australians had always considered themselves the custodians of the rules of surfing. At remote waves, the Australians, so they thought, took turns, never bullied for waves and, most certainly, didn't jump on a wave another surfer was already on. And then along came this athletic, aggressive culture that was totally alien to the groovy Australians. You didn't have to search for to find an Australian in Indonesia who'd tell you of all the rotten surfs he'd had thanks to the "Brazzos". When Brazilians started to make serious inroads onto the World Tour a few years ago, their reputation preceded them. Was it deserved? Well, yeah. Brazilians became famous for their win-at-all-costs tactics. And Gabriel was guaranteed extra scorn when he cried after losing a final in Europe last year. The great irony, of course, is that Australian professional surfing was built on a few madly aggressive, disrespectful pros "Bustin' Down the Door" of Hawaii in the winters of 1975-76 and 1976-77. Their behaviour was deemed so insulting by the Hawaiians, contracts were supposedly taken out on their lives.

I'm loathe to throw the word "racism" around, particularly when the antipathy is built on experience. And so I asked a Brazilian, in this case the World Tour's video operator Ricard Francesconi, what his take on the anti-Brazil fever was. "I was raised in Brazil and moved to California 10 years ago so I have the privilege of witnessing both sides and can tell you it's so arduous being a surfer in a sport dominated by Australians and Americans," Francesoni said. "Brazil has been recognised for their soccer, by having beautiful women, on their free spirit, warm-hearted, happy and friendly attitude. But never for surfing.We are so criticised, it's baffling. "People have no mercy on a Brazilian surfer. If you pay attention to media comments, every time there is a new segment featuring a Brazilian, and doesn't matter if he's top-ranked, a charger or a simple freesurfer, the comments are excruciating. They are full of hate and racism." Ah, racism! Who knew!

Meanwhile, a handsome boy, compete with zeitgeist-y tattoos, who must complete all his post-heat interviews in a second language, is a couple of months from creating history. The first Brazilian world surfing champion. For many Australians it's a thorn in the paw of pro surfing. For the Brazilians, it's confirmation that theirs is the surfing nation in ascendance. Follow WAtoday on Twitter