Guilherme Tâmega is the second most successful professional bodyboarder of all time, with six world titles, six runner-up world tour finishes, and several national and international trophies and accolades.
He is also one of the most popular athletes competitive bodyboarding has ever produced, alongside the one and only Mike Stewart. And as his Hawaiian rival, an-around waterman.
Guilherme Tâmega was born on September 3, 1972, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a travel agent mother and a banker father.
He is the youngest of four brothers and always showed a competitive personality and determination to beat his siblings in soccer and swimming.
Gui's first waves were ridden at Copacabana Beach shorebreak, just a few minutes walk from his home.
Interestingly, Guilherme was initially into surfing. Then, he got tired of it and tried BMX.
But then again, he wanted to engage in some kind of water sport.
One day, the grom spotted half of a Morey Boogie Aussie washing up on the beach and decided to give it a try.
"It belonged to this local guy," GT once revealed.
"He was the only guy in the whole area who had a bodyboard, but this one day here it was, on the beach, snapped in half lengthways, but at least it gave me a chance to ride half of it."
A Grom Charging Pipe
The young Guilherme had fun and enjoyed the experience.
Soon after, in April 1985, the Brazilian already owned a Morey Boogie 139, and a few months onward, with the legendary Mach 7-7, Tâmega reached the final of a bodyboarding event at Itacoatiara - aged 13.
"I remember surfing that comp with just one fin, a giant scuba diving flipper on my right foot, with my left foot free," the bodyboarder recalled.
"The idea of fins didn't feel, at all, natural to me. I much preferred to have my feet free and feel the sand under my toes when I was jumping out of the shorey."
Gui only lost the final to a more experienced amateur rider, Paulo Esteves, who kept him from getting any wave - lesson learned.
One year later, in 1986, Guilherme was already a recognized young gun gaining sponsors at a time when the sport was growing fast in Brazil.
The speculation on whether he could be a future world champion soon spread within Brazilian sports media.
In 1988, Tâmega visited Hawaii's North Shore for the first time and paddled out at 10-foot Pipe. Impressive.
"These giant locals would paddle past me in disbelief, saying, 'How old are you?' I always looked a lot younger than I was. It was funny," GT recalled.
When he got back to Brazil, he won his country's national amateur title - Guilherme was fulfilling the expectations around him at only 16.
The First World Title
Suddenly, everything starts moving at a very fast pace.
In 1989, Tâmega turned pro and surfed his first international final in a contest held in Australia.
The Brazilian wonderkid also gets acquainted with the Balinese barrels and still finds time to win the professional Brazilian tour for the first time.
A year later, an injury sustained while riding his BMX left him out of the water for five months.
However, the unfortunate event also triggered a business idea that would define his life and career: Guilherme Tâmega started shaping and selling his own bodyboards.
In 1991, the young Rio rider conquers another national pro title and makes the final of the Morey Boogie World Championships at Pipeline where he finishes fourth.
After clinching the third Brazilian national bodyboarding title in 1992, the "Carioca" added another two back-to-back trophies in home waters.
Meanwhile, competitive performances at Pipe continued at the highest level.
In 1993, Wave Rebel offered Tâmega a contract, which included the chance to move to California to develop his signature bodyboard model.
GT accepts the challenge and moves to Oceanside, where he lives with Patti Serrano, the longtime bodyboard event promoter and founder of the Bodyboard International Magazine.
The stars were aligning, and the truth is Guilherme "Mega" Tâmega enjoyed an outstanding year in 1994.
He locked in his first world title at the International Morey Boogie Bodyboard Pro Championships held in 12-to-15-foot surf at Pipeline.
The Brazilian sealed the deal with a double barrel and a massive el rollo.
Upon arriving in his country, Tâmega was hailed as a national hero by the national media outlets and even received Rio de Janeiro's Medal of Honor.
Simultaneously, GT secures his fifth national title; things couldn't get better for the Brazilian trailblazer.
GOB World Tour Domination
In 1995, a new era emerges in professional bodyboarding.
The Global Organisation of Bodyboarders (GOB) is the newly established entity running professional bodyboarding.
The GOB World Tour would become Guilherme Tâmega's golden stage.
Between 1995 and 2002, the Brazilian competitive machine won five world titles (1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, and 2002).
In between, Tâmega won one US (1996), one Panamerican, and two ISA World Bodyboard Championship (1996 and 2000) titles.
The 1990s also proved that Tâmega could shine at his longtime rival's home turf, the Banzai Pipeline, where he won events and displayed his trademark frog-legged forward spins and power moves in critical sections.
"Mike was my biggest rival, not only in the water but out of the water, too," Tâmega noted.
"I wanted to beat him more than anything. We got along well, but when we went against each other, sparks just flew."
However, the two rivals had at least one common ground.
They were the first in professional bodyboarding to believe in and embrace a healthy diet and proper physical training as a way to reach new performance heights.
The uber-determined, fearless charger from Rio de Janeiro quickly gained the respect not only of his long legion of fellow countrymen and countrywomen but also from the international boogie-boarding community.
"I Care About Second Places"
The first rider to defy Tâmega's glorious decade was South African Andre Botha, who interrupted the Brazilian's winning streak in 1998 and 1999.
But even for those losses, Guilherme had a few words.
"I know some people don't care about second places, but I do. It's still very hard to be there and get that close to winning. It's still an accomplishment."
Ultimately, GT collected six runner-up finishes in the GOB and IBA World Tour eras, proving he was the undisputed ruler of a 12-year reign.
In 2001, after securing his fifth GOB World Tour title, Guilherme Tâmega was offered a sponsorship deal with his beloved soccer club, Vasco da Gama.
The multiple-time world bodyboarding champion was going mainstream and was even presented on the São Januário on match days for the delight of thousands of spectators.
From 2002 to 2004, GT came first thrice in the prestigious tube-riding contest, the Shark Island Challenge, at the infamous Australian slab wave.
After marrying his personal trainer, Danielle Batista, in 2003 and becoming a father, Guilherme slowly shifted his focus to his bodyboard company, GT Boards, and lifeguarding in Hawaii.
In 2015, the Brazilian power rider announced his retirement, even though he still kept competing throughout the 2020s.
Tâmega is one of the greatest bodyboarders of all time and an athlete that still inspires new generations of riders.
Hawaii and Lifeguarding
Guilherme Tâmega's transition to a lifeguard career began when he and his wife moved to Hawaii.
During a competition at Pipeline, with his wife pregnant, he decided they would stay there for good.
To earn some extra money, he started working as a lifeguard at a military base pool with the help of some friends from the bodyboarding community.
Initially, Tâmega faced challenges in a difficult environment, working, for example, at Ala Moana, which he described as "bizarre" and something that almost drove him "crazy."
That's the price to pay and the ladder to climb to reach the elite of Hawaiian lifeguarding.
After a year, GT managed to transfer to the North Shore of Oahu, where he began to earn respect and establish himself through hard work, as being a former world champion is useless per see and did not help him be taken seriously.
Throughout his early lifeguard career, Tâmega went through several stages to advance and progress, including becoming a jet ski operator, which involved intense training and dedication.
But working at Pipe is almost like being in a "playground" where Guilherme could take advantage of breaks to be in the water doing what he loves most - to drop vertically into hollow pits.
Tâmega was involved in several dramatic rescue experiences, some of which ended up on YouTube.
For the Brazilian bodyboarder, "every surfer is, in a way, a lifeguard, as they are always close to incidents in the ocean."
Nowadays, with his extensive knowledge of ocean patterns, Tâmega sees his transition to becoming a lifeguard as a natural step, complementing his passion and skills in the water with the mission of saving lives.
In 2024, roughly 40 years after having started surfing, GT is still charging and riding the best wave of the day at select international competitions.
To his detractors who denounced his lack of style and technicality, Guilherme Tâmega could always reply with a simple yet multiple title-winning statement: "I've got the power."
Words by Luís MP | Founder of SurferToday.com