Paris 2024 Surfing at Teahupo'o: Meet the Olympic jet ski water safety team protecting surfers

If you’ve been watching surfing at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, then you’ve mostly likely seen the daring rescues by the professional water safety team at Teahupo’o, swooping in on their jet skis when the competitors get stuck on the inside of where the wave is breaking, expertly pulling them out of danger's way, and delivering them safely back to the lineup to continue the competition.

The French Tahitian wave of Teahupo’o is a celebrated surf wave and an annual stop, but when this experts-only wave “turns on,” it can be one of the toughestin the world, due to the shallow reef and the thickness of this wave.

And that's where the professional water safety team at Teahupo’o comes in. Safely surfing Teahupo’o would not be possible without the experienced water rescue team, who are ready to jump into action whenever a competitor requires.

Olympics.com spoke with Pascal Luciani, the surfing sport manager at Teahupo’o to find out more about the crew keeping the competitors safe at Teahupo’o.

How does the water safety work at Teahupo’o?

Luciani was keen to stress that the crew is staffed with professionals, “They know the place, they know exactly what to do when we have an athlete in bad condition in the water, and they know how to take him out of the impact zone [the area where the wave breaks].”

Every day starts with a briefing on the day’s ocean conditions. As the competition gets underway, the water safety crew is in constant contact with a water patroller on the tower, which is positioned out in the ocean by the wave.

“We have one water patrol on the tower who is watching everything on the field of play,” Luciani says. This person is looking for indications of the conditions changing, looking to see if there are dangers for the athletes or the boats, and monitoring the waves to ensure the competition can continue safely.

The water patrol dedicated to the competitors, consists of four jet ski drivers staffed with “grabbers.” Each jet ski has a sled attached, which the grabber uses to pull the athlete from the water.

Luciani says, “The driver knows the place and knows how fast he needs to go, placing the jet ski and the sled as close to the athletes as possible to make the job easier for the grabber to grab the athlete and put him on the sled and go as fast as possible.”

The driver has two options for delivering the athletes back to the lineup, the most common requires the driver's expert knowledge of navigating the reef, Luciani says, “It takes less than two minutes to send you back out.”