By Lincoln Feast
PAPARA, Tahiti (Reuters) – Tahiti welcomed the 2024 Olympic surfing event on Friday with blazing sunshine, songs and Polynesian culture honouring the sport’s ancient roots, a world away from the rain of the Games’ opening ceremony in Paris.
At a beachside park 40 km from the surfing venue of Teahupo’o, surfers poured sand from their home beaches into a communal vessel, combining the different colours and textures to symbolise unity and respect for the ocean.
Ceremonial artefacts and some dignitaries arrived in outrigger canoes and were carried up the black sand beach, where athletes paraded into a large tent.
Host nation France naturally received the loudest cheers, especially for local Teahupo’o surfers Vahine Fierro and Kauli Vaast who will be among the favourites when competition kicks of, likely on Saturday.
Athletes and officials danced with local performers wearing grass skirts and flower garlands before big screen TVs crossed live to Paris and a rain-soaked parade of nations.
Back in Tahiti, residents and visitors chatted and strolled around a market set up next door offering fresh vegetables and other local goods.
Tahiti, 16,000km from Paris, is hosting the surfing because it has one of the world’s best waves and beaches in France are mostly flat at this time of the year.
(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Tahiti, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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