Reaffirm its willingness to organizethe surfing events of the 2024 Olympic Games, while ensuring guarantees. Visiting Paris this week, Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson confirmed that Tahiti will host surfing, as long as its environmental requirements and acceptance by Polynesians are met.
"We have a number of requirements regarding the holding of these events that we absolutely want to take place at home. The Games will take place in Tahiti but my role is to ensure that they take place as well as possible, both from the perspective of the Olympic Games Committee but especially from that of Polynesia and Polynesians," Moetai Brotherson told AFP.
President Moetai Brotherson signs and affixes on the wall of partners the bib "French Polynesia".#PolynésieFrançaise #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/2VVPlzaCsg
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"If it is to leave nothing to young Polynesians, we will have missed the boat"
Its requirements are "environmental" but also imply "social acceptability," he said. "This raises the question of legacy: what will remain after these ten days of trials? If it is to leave structures that we will not know what to do with, it is not worth it. If it is to leave nothing to young Polynesians who want to surf or even move towards professional surfing, we will also have missed the boat, "he insisted.
The president of Polynesia, elected on May 12 and in favor of a smooth transition to independence, said he was "reassured" after his meetings with the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, and the president of the organizing committee of the Games, Tony Estanguet, this week "because they reiterated that there were specifications that expressed generic needs but that, In implementing the solutions, the ball was in our court."
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Already before the elections, Moetai Brotherson had responded "a little amused" to the concerns of the organizers that "it was perhaps more important for the separatists than for the autonomists that these Games take place in Tahiti, where surfing was born. For us, it's a story of culture, history, and, somehow, honor," he explains.
