John John Florence in Teahupo’o gem. Photo: WSL
The WSL announced Wednesday it will be partnering with NBC Sports to produce a six-part docuseries highlighting the lives of Olympic surfers en route to the 2024 Paris Games. Tahiti Bound will reportedly follow “reigning Olympic champion and five-time world champion Carissa Moore, two-time world champion John John Florence, and 2023 world champion Caroline Marks, as well as up-and-comers Griffin Colapinto and surfing phenomenon Caity Simmers.” The Team USA athletes were the only qualifiers mentioned.
Back in January, Moore announced she planned to compete in the Lexus Pipe Pro before stepping away from the Championship Tour, then she’d return to Olympic competition at Teahupo’o to defend her gold medal from the 2021 Games.
“I would have loved to have won a world title and then dropped the mic and walked away,” she told the New York Times. “I would have loved the fairy tale ending.”
No doubt winning her second Olympic gold would still work as a fairy tale ending.
The first episode of Tahiti Bound is set to air this coming Sunday, March 3, 2024, featuring the recent WSL competition at Pipeline. After that, an episode from each location of the first five stops on this year’s Championship Tour will be featured — Pipe, Sunset Beach, Peniche, Bells Beach, and Margaret River — on CNBC. A sixth episode is set for Tahiti, which will air in late June, a month before the start of the Summer Games.
A season recap will also air in October on NBC. That episode will combine highlights from the Olympic Games and the 2024 WSL Championship Tour results, titled Tahiti to Trestles.
“(The year) 2024 is set to be a transformative (one) for the sport thanks, in large part, to the Olympic Games, which is the biggest stage in the world,” said Cherie Cohen, WSL Chief Revenue Officer. “The WSL is in an ideal position to provide content, access, and insights that will significantly enhance NBC’s coverage of the Games. This partnership is also a fantastic opportunity to bring the compelling stories of our athletes on the road to Tahiti to NBC’s audience.”
