“I’d Go to War”: Despite Underlying Circumstances, 2024 Olympic Surfing Destination Restores Faith With a ‘Bold’ Promise

Very few times have an IOC event been held outside the Olympic Village, let alone in a different place than the host country. The equestrian events at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 2008 Beijing Olympics are two occasions where it was held in Sweden and Hong Kong respectively. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, surfing becomes the next sport to be hosted outside the host nation. Nearly 10,000 miles southwards of France in Oceania lie some of the best waves in the world. The reputation of the waves on this island earned them the hosting rights. However, the locals are growing weary of people visiting here and ruining their pristine conditions as the day of the Olympics nears.

Teahupo’o, Tahiti, will be hosting the surfing events at next year’s Olympics. Although in a different part of the world, it is still part of French Polynesia. The island hosts some of the great waves, ideal for surfing, around the world, and the locals consider it sacred. They are going to protect it at any cost.

Will hosting surfing at the Olympics be a bane or boon for Teahupo’o?

“There’s waterfalls and a river coming down from the mountains and going through [our] village, and we got a nice bay, facing the most beautiful wave in the world,” said a local named Henry Tahurai to The Guardian. It was as if he was describing a scene from his painting. For Tuharai and countless others in Teahupo’o, the ocean, and its waves are pristine, and the prospect of overcrowding on their beaches in a year or so is getting all of them worried.

When the decision was taken to host the event in this region that produces some of the most dangerous barrels and waves in the world, the local people were fine with it. To be fair, they still are. However, it’s what the Olympics bring with it that they fear more. “I’d go to war to keep this place the way it is … We gotta keep Teahupo’o Teahupo’o,”, said Tahurai.

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He also said, “Our population accepts the Olympic Games, but that comes with conditions … the goal is to preserve our environment”. The strict measures that locals are planning to take are only born out of the immense respect they have for nature and its surroundings.

Large-scale projects are being planned in Teahupo’o

A huge Olympic village, separated from the one in Paris, is also supposed to be constructed. A bridge would be built over the river for vehicles to pass, and hotel renovations will be taking place. The scale of the construction is enormous as the expectancy of the number of Olympic viewers to visit next year is also large. This is exactly what is going to offset the quaint, serene lifestyle of the people living here.

Resident Cindy Otsenasek said, “I wasn’t against the Olympics being held here in Teahupo’o, but I was against all the buildings they wanted to build”. While voices have already started to rise from the region, the IOC must’ve taken notice of the fear of after-effects. While surfing in the Olympics is undoubtedly going to bring enormous fame to the region, it could also cause more harm than good, as per the locals.

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