Olympia Paris 2024
“Dreams really do come true” – German surfer at the Olympics for the first time
Status: 02.03.2024 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Surfing towards Paris: Camilla Kemp secured her Olympic ticket in Puerto Rico
Quelle: AFP/RICARDO ARDUENGO
Camilla Kemp is allowed to plan for the Olympic Games: surfing is part of the program for the second time, and a German is taking part for the first time. Shortly afterwards, her teammate followed suit. However, there is trouble over construction plans in Tahiti, where the competitions take place.
Camilla Kemp was the first German surfer to qualify for the Olympic Games. The 28-year-old secured her spot at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico this weekend.
“What a day! I’m speechless. Dreams really do come true,” Kemp, who grew up in Portugal, wrote on Instagram. In one photo she poses with a big ticket for Paris 2024. Her 20-year-old teammate Tim Elter followed suit a few hours later and also qualified for the Olympic Games, which begin with the opening ceremony on July 26th. While still half in the water, he received his first congratulations and a German flag. “I’m so glad that the suffering is over and that I made it,” said Elter.
Surfing has been Olympic since the last Games in Tokyo. Back then, in the summer of 2021, Leon Glatzer represented the German team in Japan and came in 17th place; a woman could not qualify.
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However, the surfing competitions at the Paris Games will not be held in the French capital or on the Atlantic, but on the coast of Tahiti in the South Pacific – 15,000 kilometers away from Paris. Never has an Olympic competition taken place further away from the actual scene of the event.
New construction threatens coral reefs
The venue is no stranger to the surfing world: Teahupo’o, a small village on Tahiti, an island in French Polynesia, is considered one of the most beautiful and spectacular surfing spots anywhere. There is also a World Surfing League station there.
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However, there is resistance from the population, from environmentalists and also from surfing professionals against the hosting of the Olympic competition in Teahupo’o or against a plan that goes hand in hand with it: a 14 meter high aluminum tower is to be built in the bay for the competition judges and TV cameras will be built to replace a wooden tower that was built more than 20 years ago. It is said that the new building is necessary due to safety concerns, among other things.
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However, fears that the coral reef would be damaged were confirmed during a test trip of the barge in December. After that, the construction work was initially stopped and the protest against the new building became the largest, but those responsible for the Olympics are insisting on the plans for a new building – albeit in a smaller version and made of lighter material.
