Paris chooses Tahiti as surfing location for 2024 Olympics
Organisers criticised over environmental impact as site is thousands of miles from host city
The 2024 Paris Olympics has chosen Tahiti as the site for its surfing events arguing that the waves are more dependable than the French coast, despite being nearly 10,000 miles (more than 15,000km) from the host city.
Tahiti is part of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity, which is an administrative division of France with semi-autonomous status. The International Olympic Committee still has to approve the choice, but Paris organisers believed the famous waves at Teahupo’o in Tahiti – among the most spectacular and powerful in the world – meant it would be a more predictable wave site than the Atlantic coast of France.