Why is Surfing in Tahiti for Paris Olympics?

Almost 10,000 miles will separate the competition from the opening and closing ceremonies.

Jul 25, 2021; Tokyo, Japan; Carissa Moore (USA) surfs in women s round 1 competition during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach. / Andrew Nelles-USA TODAY Network

Sometimes, the unwieldy nature of the Olympics forces events to be held—gasp!—outside the host city.

Soccer, for instance, is usually scattered around the host country—the Paris Olympics will include matches in Bordeaux, Marseille, Nantes and other cities. The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 will include events in Oklahoma City. Heck, the 2026 Winter Olympics will have two host cities—Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.

And then there is a situation like surfing at the 2024 Olympics. The competition will be held 9,765 miles away from Paris in Teahupo'o—a village on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.

Let's delve into why this is the case, which American celebrity will be making the trip to Teahupo'o, and whether anything like this has happened before.

Why is surfing in Tahiti for the Paris Olympics?

Five sites under French jurisdiction applied to host Olympic surfing: Biarritz, Lacanau, Les Landes, La Torche and Teahupo’o. All but Teahupo’o are in France proper, and all those in France proper but La Torche are in the southwest of the country specifically.

Teahupo’o won the right to host the competition just before the pandemic, with the International Olympic Committee citing widespread support from the surfing community. The village currently hosts a stop on the World Surf League's annual tour, and French Polynesian surfers usually compete under their own flag outside Olympic auspices (rather than the French flag).

Why is Colin Jost helping out with Olympic surfing commentary in Tahiti?

Jost is an avid surfer, as he discussed in his 2020 memoir, A Very Punchable Face. Accordingly, NBC sent him to Tahiti to help out play-by-play announcer Joe Turpel and analyst Michael Parsons.

“I’m honored to get to watch the best surfers in the world compete on one of the heaviest waves imaginable, and to help showcase the rich history of surfing in Tahiti,” Jost said in a June 26 network release, adding: “And my Writer’s Guild health insurance is excited to see what the coral reef does to my back.”

Has anything like this ever happened at the Olympics?

Yes! In 1956, the Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne. Due to Australia's strict equine quarantine policies, equestrian events for the Games were held in Stockholm—9,687 miles away.