Hundreds are set to descend on Tahiti for Olympic surfing. Can locals protect their way of life?

A worker inspects the permanent foundations being constructed on the coral reef for a judging tower to be used during the Olympic Games surf competition in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. The size of the judging tower has been scaled back and new infrastructure plans are being drawn up to minimize the need for new construction. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

TEAHUPO’O, French Polynesia (AP) — Peva Levy said he felt a powerful, natural energy known as “mana” when he surfed Teahupo’o’s waves on a piece of plywood for the first time, rushing down a crumbling white surf in front of an untouched volcanic beach several years before the steady streams of surfers started arriving when the village got its first asphalt road over fifty years ago.

“It was a secret spot,” the surfer and Tahitian native remembered, as he stood on the pristine beaches of Teahupo’o on the island’s south side, waves crashing off in the distance. “But it was not a secret spot for a long time.”

Teahupo’o has since achieved world renown among surfers — the roaring wave garnered a reputation for its ferocious power — and will be home to the 2024 Paris Olympics surfing competition, scheduled from July 27 to Aug. 4.

The island in French Polynesia is an overseas territory of the European nation. The decision to host part of the Games here has thrust unprecedented challenges onto a small community that has long cherished and strives to protect a way of life more closely connected to wild lands and crystal-clear ocean than the fame promised by an Olympic stage. And while organizers are trying to adjust their plans to conserve the local environment, ensuring that the village of Teahupo’o stays a village is proving to be a struggle for locals.

Teahupo’o native Gregory Parker poses for a portrait in the beachfront bungalow that he will rent out to Olympic accredited officials during the Olympic surf competition in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

The original proposed scale of the Olympic site – which called for new roads, housing units and even an aluminum judging tower that required drilling into the reef – caused a significant local backlash. Environmental and surf communities banded together to protect Teahupo’o’s culture, its corals and its marine life.

“It was too much for us, a big change. And it was just for, like, one week” of competition, Levy said, who’s also a member of the local environmental organization Vai Ara O Teahupo’o.

Though it’s known throughout the surfing world, there is not one surf shop in Teahupo’o, with the town forgoing most of the development that’s usually a staple at popular surf destinations. At the end of the village’s road lies its sole snack bar which is only open for lunch and serves fish caught that morning. Kids spend the afternoon surfing as families watch from the black sand beaches. At night, the distant roar of waves barreling down onto the reef lulls the town to sleep.

Olympics Tahiti Surfing Environment

“We loved this place because it was still wild, there were not many people over here. There was a lot of fish all around, and that good mana,” Levy said.

In response to criticism, now 98% of Olympic housing will be within the homes of locals, with athletes accommodated on a cruise ship anchored nearby. The size of the judging tower has been scaled back and new infrastructure plans are being drawn up to minimize the need for new construction.

But concerns remain: Environmentalists and local fishers fear that drilling into the coral reef could attract ciguatera, a microscopic algae that infects fish and makes people sick if eaten, and many sustain themselves by what they catch in the ocean.

Mormon Maitei, 22, makes a living from spearfishing in the lagoons, feeding his family and selling what he has left over. “The lagoon is our refrigerator, it’s where we get our dinner from,” he said.

The sought-after shape of the waves could be affected, too, islanders say, if the reef were to fissure and lose the shape that the waves rely on to form.

“If it does crack and break off, there will be no more wave over here, it will be finished for us,” said Levy.

In December, local fears were confirmed when a barge razed sections of coral on its way to the construction site on the reef. A video of the damage spread on social media, provoking an outcry.

A surfer rides a wave in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. The world-famous surf spot is set to host the 2024 Paris Olympics surfing competition. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Cindy Otcenasek, the president of Via Ara o Teahupo’o, called the destruction deeply hurtful. “In Polynesian culture, gods are present everywhere, in the coral, in the ocean,” she said. “The ocean is considered to be the most sacred temple.”

“The fish live around the corals so if we break a coral, we break a home,” she said.

Olympic organizers expressed their concern over the incident.

“It was awful for us,” said Barbara Martins-Nio, a senior event manager for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organization Committee. “Tahitians have this special relationship with nature, with their lands, and it was like a bomb for us.”

Martins-Nio said that their interactions with local groups are now improving, and the organizing team has taken a step back on several issues and are better involving local groups so that construction work is fully transparent.

Despite the fears, some on the island still see the Games as an opportunity. Much of the local population is in favor of the Games, the economic benefits it could bring and the standing it will give their little corner of French Polynesia.

A surfer rides a wave in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. The world-famous surf spot is set to host the 2024 Paris Olympics surfing competition. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Born and raised in Teahupo’o, Gregory Parker’s morning routine consists of watching the waves crash along the horizon from his beachfront bungalow while smoking a cigarette. But while the Games are in town, he’s willing to sacrifice that for a bit of spare cash by renting it out.

His family owns a significant portion of properties in the village that are regularly rented out to the international surf community during the annual World Surf League competition, and he intends to do the same for the Olympics.

“I will try to live at my daughter’s house during the Games. If she also rents out her house, I have a tent,” Parker said. “It’s not hard for two weeks, and given all the money I will make, it’s worth it.”

Tahitian-born surfer Kauli Vaast rides a wave in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Sunday, Jan. 13, 2024. Vaast learned how to surf on these waves at just eight years old. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

In January this year, just months before the Games, a small group of local surfers bobbed up and down in the water, awaiting the perfect wave, when 21-year-old Kauli Vaast, who’s competing in this year’s Olympics, spotted it forming.

He’s quick to slide his board into one of the glassy tubes, gliding out before the wave thunders down onto the reef, a monstrous spray of lapping white froth raining down behind him.

“Magical things happen here, you feel this energy and you must show respect,” said Vaast. “It is so important to show respect in these types of places where you face mother nature.”

Olympics Tahiti Surfing Environment

Vaast learned how to surf on these waves at just eight years old, nearly 40 years after Peva Levy first felt the wave’s mana. Mana that many islanders feel — and want to preserve.

“We hear a lot about the infrastructure and heritage that will be left by the Olympic Games, but we already have an ancestral heritage,” said Via Ara o Teahupo’o’s Otcenasek. “Teahupo’o is the land of God before being the land of the Games.”

A stray dog walks by an Olympic Games construction site in Teahupo’o, French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. The decision to host part of the Olympic Games here has thrust unprecedented challenges onto a small community that has long cherished and strives to protect its way of life. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

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Locals hang out at a bus stop at the end of the road in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

French Olympic athlete Kauli Vaast, right, and his brother Naiki, organize surf equipment in their bungalow in Vairao, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. “Magical things happen here, you feel this energy and you must show respect,” said Kauli Vaast. “It is so important to show respect in these types of places where you face mother nature.” (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Olympics Tahiti Surfing Environment

A wave at Teahupo’o crashes onto the coral reef in Tahiti, French Polynesia, Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. The decision to host part of the Olympic Games here has thrust unprecedented challenges onto a small community that has long cherished and strives to protect its way of life. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A man tends to a barbecue at a snack bar in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Butterflyfish swim along the coral reef in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Kids surf small waves along the beach after school in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A person burns fallen leaves on a beach in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Friday, Jan. 13, 2024. The decision to host part of the Olympic Games here has thrust unprecedented challenges onto a small community that has long cherished and strives to protect a way of life. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Naiki Vaast, right, prepares a fish he caught for dinner, feeding cats the leftovers in Vairao, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A customer sits at the only snack bar in the village of Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Friends drink together after work in Taiarapu-Ouest, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A child plays on a sculpture of the Teahupo’o wave at the end of the road, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

APTOPIX Olympics Tahiti Surfing Environment

Cindy Otcenasek, the president of the environmental organization Vai Ara O Teahupo’o poses for a portrait at her home in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024. “In Polynesian culture, gods are present everywhere, in the coral, in the ocean,” she said. “The ocean is considered to be the most sacred temple.” (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

A worker inspects the permanent foundations being constructed on the coral reef for a judging tower to be used during the Olympic Games surf competition in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. The size of the judging tower has been scaled back and new infrastructure plans are being drawn up to minimize the need for new construction. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Naiki Vaast spearfishes along the coral reef in Vairao, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Olympics Tahiti Surfing Environment

A woman shelters from the sun as she watches surfers catching waves in Vairao, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)