Teahupo’o is certainly more exciting to watch than a wave pool, but is it the best place for the Olympic Games? Photos: WSL//Youtube
When surfing was included in the Olympics, it was kind of a big deal. The Duke wanted it there, after all, but since Duke Kahanamoku’s day, surfing has changed a bit. We have wave pools now, for example, and as much as I’d choose the ocean over a pool any day, wave pools are uniquely suited for Olympic surfing.
Surfing’s addition to the world’s foremost multi-sports event is tough, because surfing requires waves and not all countries have good enough ones to be the arena. Take, for example, France. As you know, Paris is the host city in 2024, and Teahupo’o has been chosen as the venue. Tahiti is French Polynesia’s main island, and it became a French protectorate way back in 1842. A few decades later, in 1880, France took the reins of French Polynesia as a whole. Fast forward about 50 years, and French Polynesia was designated as a French overseas territory. Which is why Teahupo’o can be the venue for the Paris Olympics.
Teahupo’o is, by all measures, one of the best waves on Earth. Yes, the south of France gets good in the fall but that doesn’t work with the Olympic calendar. Teahupo’o is a fantastic place for a surf contest, especially in the summer months, despite the hurdles that organizers face in putting that contest together. The wave breaks relatively far out to sea. So Olympic organizers took one look at the judging tower that sits on the reef in this quiet, remote corner of the world, and decided it wasn’t good enough.
“Though previous WSL events at the venue had used a temporary wooden structure, officials stated they would be unable to reuse the tower due to safety concerns, the need to accommodate a larger staff, and the technical requirements of a live broadcast,” wrote Cooper Geegan for The Inertia. “As a result, plans were made for a three-story aluminum structure that would include additional capacity, enhanced security, air conditioning, electricity, water and toilets.”
Now, I’m of the opinion that a new structure shouldn’t be built. I’m far from alone, either, but as of this writing Olympic officials are moving ahead as planned. Possible reef damage aside, a wave pool is the perfect place to run an Olympic surfing event. An Olympic event. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of surf contest fans weren’t all that enthused with the WSL’s Surf Ranch event. Sure, that wave looks like a blast to surf, but the monotony that makes it so perfect also lends itself to a boring broadcast. Every wave is the same. Each ride is remarkably similar. The judges there don’t have to take into account the wave quality in each heat and score the surfers based on something out of their control. Instead, they’re able to judge the surfer’s ability — which is exactly what the Olympics are for.
The Olympics are supposed to pit the world’s best athletes in their discipline against each other. And apart from surfing, none of those disciplines rely on the vagaries of Mother Nature. An Olympic champion shouldn’t be dictated by the conditions. A gold medal Olympic performance should be dictated purely by the athlete’s skill. While Mother Nature is an inherent part of surfing — outside of wave pools, of course — it only really works if the viewer understands just how difficult it is to navigate the ever-changing conditions the ocean serves up. A wave pool, though? That allows the viewer, who may or may not have a deeper understanding of surfing, to see what a surfer can do on a playing field that’s fair to all competitors.
Take, for example, this hypothetical. Let’s use gymnastics. If each gymnast was forced to do their routine on a pommel horse that changed heights and widths, that wouldn’t be fair. If the distance between the uneven bars was randomly changed between routines, I’m sure someone would call foul. If the mat for the floor exercise changed in elasticity and softness, competitors would effectively all be competing on an entirely different piece of equipment. Which is exactly what surfers deal with in a contest. And while we all know and accept the fact that the “best surfer in the world” might not actually be the best surfer in the world because of whatever the conditions were at each stop on the Championship Tour, the Olympics is on a different level.
Now that wave pools have been proven to be a viable place to hold a surfing contest — there’s one in the works in Paris, by the way — and considering the uproar surrounding the proposed tower at Teahupo’o, it only makes sense that organizers of the Games would at least consider a shift in venue for Olympic surfing to a man–made wave that lets the judges score Olympic medal hopefuls on their skill alone. And wouldn’t harm the natural environment at Teahupo’o like an Olympic-level influx of people during the Games might.
