They will tame “the perfect wave”. Two months before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the best surfers on the planet will meet at the Teahupo’o spot in Tahiti, for the annual stage of the pro tour. Legend Kelly Slater, 52, was even invited to attend the event.
“It’s one of the best spots in the world, it’s so special to surf here. When you are in the tube and you see the seabed, the landscape in front of you, the feeling is incredible. It’s a perfect wave,” John John Florence told AFP. The double American world champion (2016 and 2017) has been visiting the place since he was a teenager.
“Not many other places like this”
This stage of the Championship Tour brings together the best surfers who all dream of winning, on the one hand to glean ranking points with a view to obtaining the world title, but also for the atmosphere of the place. “There is such positive energy, so much power when you are on the spot. This wave does what it wants and you’re just there to enjoy it. There aren’t many other places like that,” said Joh John Florence, one of the favorites for the Olympics next summer.
The Paris 2024 organizing committee was attracted by the location, even if its choice as a spot for the competition created concern among the local population. After months of controversy, a new aluminum judges’ tower has been installed in the lagoon and will be used for the first time during this week’s stage, before being used for the Games.
“We did things well: the tower was baptized in tradition, in the presence of a Tahitian sage and a priest. The situation is now calmed here,” assures AFP Max Wasna, president of the Tahitian surfing federation and child of Teahupo’o.
