Explainer | Paris Olympics: why is surfing being held in Tahiti and why aren’t the locals happy?
- The village of Teahupo’o is 15,730 kilometres from Paris, making it the furthest away a venue has ever been from the host city
Although Paris was selected as the host city for the 2024 Olympics, not all the events will take place in the French capital.
Football is spread throughout the country, while sailing events are taking place in Marseille, but none of those are as far removed as the venue for this year’s surfing.
That will be staged in Teahupo’o, a village on the southwestern coast of the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, some 15,730 kilometres from Paris. It is, by quite some distance, the furthest an Olympic venue has ever been from the host city.
And not everyone is happy about it, with waves of local backlash since the decision was announced. But why is the event taking place on the other side of the world, and what benefits, if any, might there be?
Where is Tahiti?
Tahiti is located in the central South Pacific Ocean, halfway between Australia and California. The area is around 1,000 square kilometres in size, slightly smaller than Hong Kong.
