2023-12-11 12:13:31
On December 6, the International Surfing Federation welcomed the decision to suspend work at Teahupo’o. Finally, on Sunday (this Monday, Paris time), the Polynesian president announced that the Olympic surfing event will be able to be maintained on the site, for months at the heart of tensions between the authorities, the organizers of the Olympic Games (OG) and local populations.
“The solution that we managed to get adopted this evening allows the Olympics to be held here and for the WSL (World Surf League) to maintain an annual stage of the world tour,” rejoiced Moetai Brotherson, at the end of a meeting with environmental associations. On Sunday, a meeting between the organizers, elected officials and associations defending the site to host surfing for the Olympic Games was planned, in particular, to discuss the progress of the work.
A functional tower on May 13
The replacement of a wooden tower with an aluminum structure for the judges has been a source of tension for months. During technical tests on December 1, a barge planned for the installation of this new tower broke coral, pushing the Polynesian government to pause the work. But Moetai Brotherson presented on Sunday a work schedule which should result in a functional tower on May 13, a few days before the WSL world tour stop. This competition will serve as a test before the Olympic Games in July.
The Polynesian president was delighted to have obtained the “unanimous support of all the mayors, the surfing federation and even the associations, apart from one, and a surfer, who thinks he represents the surfing community”.
The Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, deplored the conditions of the trials last week. “There was a test which was clearly not well prepared and could not be conducted well and unfortunately damaged pieces of coral, this is obviously quite regrettable.” “The next test must be carefully prepared. »
She had also denied the existence of any plan B. “We are on this path which is really the right one to have a new resized judges’ tower” and which corresponds to “requests made by the locals”.
#Olympics #surfing #event #maintained #Tahiti #announces #Polynesian #president