The opening ceremonies for the highly anticipated 2024 Summer Olympics are scheduled for Friday.
Meanwhile, surfers, residents and Olympic workers across Tahiti, French Polynesia, are gearing up for the start of the Paris Olympics and the surfing competition.
Competitors appear to be in store for good waves at the reef break of Teahupo’o beginning this weekend, a top International Surfing Association official said.
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Surfers are shown during a training day ahead of the Summer Olympics surfing competition, July 23, 2024, in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The conditions could give a positive boost to the decision to hold surfing competitions more than 9,000 miles away from the host city.
“So we were paddling for a wave we didn’t know would come,” ISA President Fernando Aguerre said. “We didn’t know if the IOC would have the stomach for that. But we reviewed a lot of the options for that, and it was clear that staying in European France meant a disaster, probably a disaster, for the waves.”
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Throughout the week, competitors were seen paddling out to the world-famous waves of Teahupo’o, Tahiti, starting before sunrise to take advantage of exclusive access to the location for training ahead of the competition.
During training sessions in the days before the Olympics, competitors get a chance to familiarize or reacquaint themselves with the unique, large waves that are considered some of the heaviest in the world. Many of the surfers competing in the Paris Olympics have previous experience riding the waves of Teahupo’o.
Reo Inaba of Japan surfs during a training day ahead of the Summer Olympics surfing competition, July 23, 2024, in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The forecast for Teahupo’o calls for good conditions to last through Aug. 5. Meanwhile, the beaches around the top French surf zone of Hossegor will likely see conditions in the fair to poor range, per data from Surfline.com.
“The IOC and the Olympic Committee understood the challenge of having OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) operating here as opposed to a beach near Paris, but I am totally positive that the rewards will be huge,” Aguerre added.
“We know Saturday and Sunday are going to be amazing for waves. Not big and scary Teahupo’o, but very nice, high quality, so we are going to see some great performances.”
Kanoa Igarashi of Japan surfs during a training day ahead of the Summer Olympics surfing competition, July 23, 2024, in Teahupo’o, Tahiti. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Surfing is expected to be featured much closer to Los Angeles in 2028, when the city hosts its third Summer Games. Aguerre hinted that surfers could compete at Huntington Beach or Trestles near San Clemente four years from now.
“But I won’t second-guess the organizers, and we’ve been kind of evaluating the pros and cons of each of them, and they’re both amazing. So, it will be in a good place.”
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Other preparations for this year’s games could be seen at sea, including the first-ever floating Olympic village housing some of the competitors, and the Olympic judges’ tower — which garnered criticism from environmental groups and was later downsized by the Olympic committee — jutting from the ocean.
In Teahupo’o, residents have spent the windy days preparing their town for the influx of extra people: cleaning trash and debris from beachside walking paths, extending business hours, building homemade dirt road bumps and painting signs to give gentle reminders to visitors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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