Paris 2024 Olympics: The emotions of surfing inside the Teahupo'o barrel
Sol Aguirre flies out of the Teahupo’o barrel, disbelief in her eyes, arms stretched out wide.
It was a wave the Peruvian surfer was too scared to drop into and she only did so at the encouragement of the other surfers sharing the line-up with her. Seconds later, now lying on her board in flatter waters, Aguirre uses her hand to wipe the tears coming out of her eyes before raising it to give a joyful thumbs up.
“I started crying because it was a really beautiful ride and I managed to make it through,” Aguirre said of her emotions after catching what she called one of the best barrels of her life. “You make it out and it’s like, I’m alive. I’m living it.
“It is a super special, incredible, super intense wave and it fills you with many emotions at the same time. It is something that brings out the best in you and makes you grow as a person.”
Aguirre is not the only one overcome with emotions while surfing Teahupo’o. Fear, excitement, joy, awe, gratitude flow in and out as surfers tackle one of the most challenging waves on the planet and often find themselves transformed by it.
Olympics.com spoke to the Paris 2024 surfers to discover the storm of emotions that brews inside them while surfing Teahupo’o and what it is like to zip through the infamous Tahitian barrel.
Paris 2024 Olympian Sol Aguirre was overcome with emotion after riding one of the best barrels of her life at Teahupo'o.
Awe: Marvelling at the “seventh wonder of the world”
Hand grazing the surface of clear-blue water, Brisa Hennessy takes in the smell of saltwater and the sight of green mountains in the distance.
She is saying hello to Teahupo'o, the surfing venue of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“Teahupo'o is one of the most biodiverse, magical places in the world and honestly should be one of the seven wonders because it has that energy I've never really experienced anywhere,” the Costa Rican surfer said.
“You have the mountains that are just towering over you, and they're lush and dark green, and the ocean is crystal clear, and this wave comes out of the deep blue and it breaks on the reef and it barrels like no other wave in the world. And you're like, how does this happen? It's like a miracle.”
An emerald oasis in the South Pacific, Tahiti inspires immediate awe in those lucky enough to arrive at the wave dubbed “The End of the Road”.
A handful of surfers who are competing at Paris 2024 saw Teahupo’o for the first time a year ago when they took part in the ISA Athlete Training Camp in July 2023. And just as those who came before them, they were mesmerised by the beauty of it.
“It was crazy. I've only seen Tahiti in photos and videos, and I feel like it exceeded all expectations,” said Saffi Vette, an Olympic rookie from New Zealand who participated in the surf camp. “It's so unique. It's so special. The whole background, it feels like it's a painting. It's so pretty and beautiful.”
Her teammate Billy Stairmand was equally enchanted when he travelled to Tahiti for the first time in July.
The Tokyo 2020 Olympian jumped into the water within minutes of arriving at Teahupo'o by boat and soon found one of its famous barrels, a wide smile rarely leaving his face during the whole surf session.
“The beauty of it and the energy of Tahiti is something different. It's just something else,” Stairmand said. “The mountains and the waterfalls and the energy in the ocean, it's such a beautiful scenic spot and it's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
“The wave itself is very challenging, but once you take a step back and sit there in the line-up and watch the waves and check your surroundings, it's pretty surreal.”
New Zealand's Billy Stairmand surfed Teahupo'o for the first time a year before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Nerves: The art of dropping over the ledge
Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam has surfed Teahupo’o on multiple occasions, including placing third in the Tahiti Pro of the WSL Championship Tour in 2024.
Being so familiar with it, he also knows there is more to Teahupo’o than natural beauty.
“It is the most perfect wave in the world and the most frightening and wicked in the world,” Boukhiam said. “She has two faces. You see it from the outside, you look at it from the boat, you're like, 'Wow, it's magnificent', but when you're inside, poof, you fall, it's less magnificent.
"That's what makes it so charming. It's very intimidating, but perfect at the same time. I understand why many surfers have a romantic relationship, we'll say, because it's very endearing. The best moments of your life as well as the worst.”
Even Olympic champion and five-time world champion Carissa Moore cannot help but get nervous while surfing Teahupo’o despite a consistent track record on the wave – she finished fifth at Tahiti Pro for the last three years.
“I look at it as one of the wonders of the world because it kind of folds on itself and it's such a spectacle,” the USA surfer said. “There's definitely a deep appreciation for the amount of fearlessness that you have to have to ride it.”
Fearlessness is a quality that is essential at Teahupo’o, agreed Hennessy, who beat Moore in the quarterfinals of Tahiti Pro in May 2024 and ultimately finished second.
“You need to be fearless,” Hennessy said. “You have to dig deep and you have to listen to your instincts, but also send yourself over the ledge. It's this perfect balance of, 'Oh my gosh, I could get the wave of my life or I could get really hurt'. The uncertainty is something that's scary. But just on the other side of that, it's like a rainbow, like a pot of gold."
That pot of gold is something all surfers will be searching for in Tahiti. And the extra challenge makes the quest even more meaningful.
“It's a very a powerful wave, comes out of deep water, breaks really hard onto shallow reef. And it's live, sharp reef,” Stairmand said. “It's not like surfing a little beach break where everyone can surf it. It's a lot more intense and it's a lot more hard work, which I'm looking forward to. It's another challenge.
“You could get the best barrel of your life or you could get the best hiding of your life, so you never know what you're going to get out there.”
Gratitude: Teahupo’o as teacher
When Kanoa Igarashi surfed Teahupo’o for the first time, aged 12, he told himself that he will never go back again.
Fourteen years later, the Japanese surfer has done everything possible to make sure he is there again, except this time not as a promising teen surfer but as a returning Olympic silver medallist.
“I was so scared,” Igarashi said of his first trip to Teahupo’o. “And from there, year after year, I feel like I improve. And maybe when I was around 16, 17 is when I really started feeling comfortable out there."
“Every time you surf at Teahupo'o, you learn something new. Every time I leave Tahiti, I feel like I improve," Kanoa Igarashi to Olympics.com
Igarashi has picked up numerous lessons over the years of surfing Teahupo’o and they have helped to transform him into one of the world’s best surfers. The biggest of these lessons, however, was not a specific surfing technique but rather the importance of feeling a true connection with the wave.
“It's really important to connect with the wave, really understand the wave,” Igarashi explained. “You have to find your rhythm and find your flow because if you're out of rhythm, you have no chance out there.”
Kanoa Igarashi first surfed Teahupo'o when he was 12 years old and has picked up numerous lessons from it over the following years.
Saffi Vette learned from Teahupo’o the hard way. It was on the second day of the ISA Athlete Training Camp that she injured her leg while riding the wave. Her foot slipped forward when she stood up on the board, causing the wave to crash on her back knee, tearing the MCL.
Now having seen that side of Teahupo’o and recovered, Vette is even more eager to go back out to show that she has learned her lesson.
“We take these risks and it can happen anywhere. It just so happened to be at Teahupo'o,” Vette said. “I look at it like, yes, it's happened. I can move on from it now. The worst has happened, I feel like in my mind. So, it almost gives me a lot more encouragement to then go out and really face my fears again and try to dominate this wave without it dominating me.”
Candelaria Resano of Nicaragua would not even let a broken nose keep her away from surfing Teahupo’o.
A nearby surfer accidentally let go of their surfboard and it flew into her face on the first day of the ISA Athlete Training Camp. Choosing to delay the surgery until she returned home, Resano waited two days for the nose to dry up and headed back out on the wave with a band-aid on her nose and strict instructions from a doctor not to put her head underwater.
“It is a high-consequence wave. It's the ultimate testing ground, which is what makes it so exciting, why I wanted to go back out,” Resano said.
“My dad called me. He's like, ‘Hey, I'll put you on the next flight home’. And I was like, ‘Hell no, I'm staying here for another week’.”
Saffi Vette said she is eager to face her fears at Teahupo'o and "try to dominate this wave without it dominating me".