Towards a resurgence of the controversy in Tahiti? The International Surfing Federation (ISA) has proposed to the Polynesian government and the organizing committee of the Paris Olympic Games to abandon building the controversial judges’ tower and to judge the event at Teahupoo via images taken from the shore, the sea and air.
“On December 9, the ISA sent a proposal to the Polynesian government and the organizers of Paris 2024 to hold the Olympic surfing event in Teahupoo without building a new tower on the reef,” explains the body in a press release dated Tuesday. The ISA proposes to judge the event with “live images from land, water and drones”.
This proposal was made when the Polynesian government announced that the event could be held at the Teahupoo site on December 10. Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson presented a work schedule which should result in a functional tower on May 13, a few days before the World Surf League (WSL) world tour stop.
Broken coral during technical tests
He also claimed to have obtained the “unanimous support of all the mayors, the surfing federation and even the associations, apart from one, and of a surfer, who thinks he represents the community of surfers”.
At the beginning of December, during technical tests, a barge intended for the installation of the resized aluminum tower had broken coral, pushing the Polynesian government to pause the work. The test had been “poorly prepared”, criticized the Minister of Sports and Olympics, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. The ISA then welcomed the suspension of work.
The aluminum tower intended for the judges of the event, and which replaces a wooden tower which is no longer up to standard, is at the heart of tensions between the authorities, the organizers of the Olympic Games and the local populations, and is experiencing many twists and turns .
