Olympic Judging Tower In Tahiti Will Be Built Say Paris 2024 President
Less than 24 hours after the ISA announced they would not support the construction of a new aluminum judging tower on the reef at Teahupo’o, site of the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing event, and offered a more environmentally sensitive alternative, the President of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Tony Estanguet says development will move forward.
“It was judged to be not feasible on several fronts," said Estanguet of the ISA proposal. “On the technical front in terms of filming the images but also surrounding security it poses a lot of questions.”
The Paris 2024 leader and French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson are united in their desire to see the judging tower built at Teahupo’o.
ISA Issues Official Statement Condemning Olympic Judging Tower At Teahupo'o In Tahiti
“We respect the almost unanimous decision taken locally to continue with the launch of the construction work,” Estanguet.
Antithetical to what surfing represents and its Polynesian origins, contention over the judging tower between area residents, surfers and environmental advocates and Olympic officials has been brewing for months. The situation was brought to a head earlier this month when a construction barge ran aground on a nearby reef and damaged the coral. The incident was caught on video and shared on social media around the world.
After this statement from the Paris 2024 President, it’s going to be interesting to see how the ISA and surf community respond to this news. It’s not out of the realm of possibilities that some qualified surfers could boycott the Games.
More as this story continues to develop.
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With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.