Paris 2024 aims to take celebrations to new heights and treat audiences to breathtaking sports in the spirit that has guided the Olympic Games since their inception. It has added four spectacular disciplines, including surfing, and hand-picked spots and venues to match them. For its second appearance at the Games following the Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021, surfing has a setting that is worthy of this event in Tahiti’s Teahupo’o wave, one of the most selective in the world and without doubt one of the most beautiful.
The decision to stage the surfing competitions at Teahupo’o aligns with Paris 2024’s ambition to spread the Games across France. It offers an opportunity to engage French overseas territories and their communities in the Olympic Games—for the first time in history—while showcasing France’s rich and diverse heritage.
The waves at Teahupo’o will offer an Olympic-class challenge for the athletes, and treat fans in Tahiti and around the world to a breathtaking experience. Tahiti will host a one-of-a-kind competition in a location that surfers the world over revere. Teahupo’o has been hosting the Pro Tahiti world championship event for over two decades and is one of the highlights on the men’s championship tour. It is a dream spot for many leading surfers, and some of them—including Gabriel Medina, Kelly Slater, Jérémy Florès, Andy Irons and Mark Occhilupo—have been lucky enough to conquer it. From 1999 to 2006, it was part of the women’s circuit, which made its big return in August 2021.
The competition venue has been designed to protect the island’s extraordinary natural surroundings. The Olympic Village will be made up of modular homes. The event will not affect the coastline because the waves break offshore. And fans will be able to enjoy the thrills and chills at the live sites while celebrating Polynesian culture, the Olympic spirit and Paris 2024’s values.
Legacy
The Teahupo’o site will continue to host the World Surf Championship Tour after the Games. The small-scale overlay installations set up for the Games will disappear after the competition. The Olympic Village, based on temporary facilities modelled on traditional Polynesian homes known as ‘farès’, will be relocated and redeployed as social housing, benefiting local communities.
Sports
Venue information
Department: French Polynesia
City: Teahupo’o, on the island of Tahiti, 75 km from Papeete
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