From July 26 to Aug 11, millions of casual viewers, surf fans, and sports announcers dissected Olympic surfing’s first ‘day of days’.
The event, held in the Tahitian left-handed reef slab named Teahupo’o, started off small. Several surfers, including Indonesia’s Rio Waida, bowed out in lack-luster conditions. And then, on July 29, all eyes were glued to a new swell that lit up the death defying venue.
Besides videos of Snoop Dogg carrying the Olympic torch, the world is still talking about Gabriel Medina’s high-flying pose and the bus-sized barrel he came out of. The three-time world champ scored a solid 9.90, the highest score so-far in olympics surfing, securing his place in the quarterfinals.
Surfing in the Olympics
Surfing made its Olympic debut in Chiba, Japan, for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Most of the event was held in contestable but small surf.
Brazil’s Italo Ferreira and Hawaii’s Carrissa Moore won the sports coveted first gold medals. Although the waves were forgettable, the event launched the sport’s long awaited inclusion into the world’s games.
This year, Tahiti, the economic hub of French Polynesia, proved to be the perfect location for the 2024 Paris Olympics. For future games in land-locked countries, wave pool technology will bring world class waves inland and give spectators non-stop action.
All About Teahupo-o
The wave at Teahupo’o forms over a shallow reef shelf that dramatically rises hundreds of feet from the ocean floor. Waves from the south and southwest march uninterrupted from the Southern Ocean to Tahiti and jack up with intense power once they feel the reef.
The wave is one of the most dangerous spectacles in surfing and demands nothing but excellence and commitment. This made it the perfect fit for an Olympic venue.
However, during the preparation for the event, the Olympic committee and government of Tahiti built a new judges’ tower. Locals claimed that the structure would damage the reef’s fragile ecosystem and protested the event until more sustainable construction practices were put in place.
At over 10,000 miles from Paris, Teahupo’o takes Olympic viewers far away from the sometimes dysfunctional sporting event and brings them to one of the most striking locations on the planet.