Dreams and nightmares in Teahupo'o, the lethal wave of surfing in Paris 2024

In Teahupo'o, an idyllic and remote enclave located in Tahiti, the largest island in French Polynesia, one of the most powerful and beautiful waves on the planet is formed.

There, 15,000 kilometers from the Olympic venue in Paris, the best surfers in the world dream of arriving.

The event aspires to elevate surfing among the mass public.

“It is a very dangerous wave, with definite consequences.

If it goes well it is incredible, but if it goes wrong it can be fatal”, explains Aritz Aranburu (Zarautz, 1985), the Spaniard who has gone the furthest in the professional circuit of this discipline.

In Polynesian, Teahupo'o means “wall of skulls”.

Its surf is a phenomenon as precious as it is crude.

The Pacific Ocean crashes against a brilliant coral reef that brushes against the crystalline surface.

In seconds, the seabed goes from 15 meters deep to barely waist deep.

The best specialists ride their tubes there, the fetish wave for the vast majority of surfers.

This is how Aranburu explains it: "There are those who come up against the risk and others who do not feel so comfortable", a benchmark in these conditions.

An error, a fall, is synonymous with bad news.

“On my first visit I opened my instep the day he was coming home.

He had to return on crutches and with both feet sewn up, ”he recalls.

In just over two decades since its discovery on a global scale,

In this unique setting, the Californian Laird Hamilton caught what was then defined as the wave of the millennium.

Despite the media hype, the small community that lives next to the reef, just at the end of the last motorable road south of the island, maintains a laid-back lifestyle.

Most of the residents, about 2,000, live from daily fishing.

"It's beautiful, like painting a picture," defines Aranburu.

On the proposal of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, he transfers the request of the locals: that nothing change after the passage of the crowd.

“For the viewer it will be shocking.

It will give a lot to talk about and may represent the definitive boom ”, he predicts.

He and other members of the elite of Spanish surfing fantasize about being able to attend the appointment.

“It is an emblem, a dream for any surfer”, comments Andy Criere, who traveled to this consecrated place for the first time in 2022.

The economic demand and the complexity of the calendar work against professionals when it comes to hardening in these waters.

“You have to put yourself in there, visualize yourself inside the wave.

What should I do, what do I need, what sensations does the wave give me?” asks the 28-year-old from San Sebastián.

Nobody leaves the visit without getting wet, without the salty pang of living coral.

The route to reach the Olympic event gives you a headache.

Of the 24 spots for each gender, the top 10 men and 8 women in the World Surf League (WSL) in 2023 will qualify directly.

The rest of the places will be played, to a large extent, in the 2023 and 2024 world championships. There are a few more possibilities, but the world championships are the main Spanish asset to achieve the dream.

In the Tokyo 2020 pre-Olympic, Aranburu and Criere were close, and Nadia Erostarbe (Zarautz, 2000), one of the great exponents of the national scene, was only one place away from achieving it.

Women make their way

Erostarbe explains it: "We have no choice but to take tubes if we want to be in the Games."

The presence of women in Tehaupo'o has deepened the debate on the safety of the participants in Paris 2024. The WSL, to give more film to the women's field, recovered in 2022 a test in which they had not surfed since 2006. “Competing there It is very special, but I am afraid for countries where surfing is not their strong point.

If someone qualified and they put them in a grown Tehaupo'o it would be terrifying”, explained Stephanie Gilmore, eight times world champion, when the venue was still being debated.

"Deep down, even I feel afraid for myself," she added in words to

magazine .

Nadia Erostarbe during a surfing competition in Portugal on September 30.Damien Poullenot (World Surf League via Getty Imag)

The president of the Tahitian federation stirred up the controversy.

"We can put the women in when the waves are not so powerful," Lionel Teihotu told the AFP agency.

To this day, no Spanish surfer has ever ridden with the mythological wave and its monstrous lip, which reaches three meters thick on the big days.

"It gives a lot of respect, but at the same time we really want to do it," says Erostarbe.

The key to the matter lies in the training: “There are no similar waves.

To familiarize yourself, it is best to start on sandy beaches and then introduce yourself to the reefs”.

On the north coast of Spain and in the southwest of France there are good breaks to start with, and then it's time to travel to places like Indonesia or Hawaii to fight in minimally comparable conditions.

The Olympic scenario, beyond the mere danger or the conservation of the idyllic environment, raises other questions that are difficult to answer.

How can a pre-Olympic in smaller waves be valid to determine who will travel to the colossus?

Organizing a championship with almost 300 participants -those that were in the 2022 ISA World Surfing Games- in Tahiti is impossible due to the lack of infrastructure.

“In 2022 the World Cups were in Huntington Beach, and in 2023 they will be held in El Salvador.

They are waves that don't look alike at all.

Perhaps in 2024 they will look for something more similar”, Criere ventures.

The Central American break of the next world championship has been good for Spanish surfers.

They dream and drive away, for now, the long shadow of Tehaupo'o.

"First, to try to qualify, and then we'll see", they conclude.

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