France is proposing to hold the 2024 Olympic surfing competitions on the island of Tahiti.
Paris, which will host the summer Games, has reportedly suggested the French Polynesian island as an alternative to Brittany or Biarritz on France’s Atlantic coast.
The list of possible venues for the surfing events – which will be included in the Games for the first time in Tokyo next year – is being considered by the French organising committee, which is known to favour Tahiti.
In July, Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, poured cold water on the suggestion of holding the surfing competitions in the South Pacific.
“The choice is in the hands of the [French] organising committee,” he said. “But I said in June, and I haven’t changed my mind, that my personal opinion is that if you have two or more candidate sites, of the same sporting level, I definitely prefer the option that is closest to the centre of the Games, so that the athletes and spectators can profit from the atmosphere of the Olympics.”
However, French organisers, who have vowed to “popularise the Games”, are insisting that Tahiti is a serious contender – even a favourite – to be the Olympic surfing locations for 2024. AFP reported sources saying the Pacific venue was under serious consideration. Four other sites in France are also proposed: at Hossegor-Seignosse-Capbreton (Landes); Biarritz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques); Lacanau (Gironde) and La Torche (Finistère).
Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia, with 200,000 inhabitants, is 9,755 miles and a 23-hour flight away from Paris, but the island village of Teahupo’o boasts some of the most impressive waves for surfing in the world.
Surfers who qualify for the discipline will know Teahupo’o well as it is a favourite with the sport’s professionals. The Teahupo’o reef break already hosts a leg of the men’s surfing world championships. There have been five surf-related deaths there in the past two decades.
Four new sports will be included in the summer Olympics: surfing, breakdancing, skateboarding and sport climbing. Sadly, the popular French sport of pétanque, a boules event, will not be included: its application was refused.