All Eyes on Tahiti: An Olympic Wave in 2024

Iconic, majestic, and now… Olympic. Tahiti’s legendary Teahupo’o will welcome 48 surfers from 21 countries to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, all aiming to catch a wave that will carry them to gold.

To understand the profound significance of the Olympic surfing competition taking place here, we have to go back to the origins of the sport. It’s likely that the “riding of waves” has existed since humans began swimming in the ocean. But experts generally agree that surfing dates back to 12th century Polynesia where cave paintings illustrate ancient versions of people surfing. 

The seafaring Polynesians brought the art of surfing to Hawaii where it became known as he’e nalu—literally, wave sliding.

Throughout all Polynesia, surfing was a way of life with a deep religious significance including ceremonies to seek the goodwill of the gods (talk to any modern-day surfer and their rhapsodies of the perfect wave is a near-religious experience for them too!). Everybody surfed—men, women, children, kings—and there were strict rules regulating who could surf which spot (this possessive aspect of surfing still lingers, so it’s always a good idea to share a friendly la orana—hello—when dropping in). There was always a hierarchy in the sport, with the best boards reserved for royalty, the ari’i (chiefs), and members of the ruling class. 

It takes strength, fortitude, and endurance for surfers to paddle out over giant swells to join the line-up and drop into one of Teahupo’o’s famous barrels.

The Tahitians and Samoans would also use surfing as a way to train their warriors for battle. How so, you ask? Try paddling out over the soaring shore breaks to patiently wait for the perfect swell. Before you can catch a wave, you have to get to the wave, and that requires significant strength and endurance. Surfing is the oldest sport practiced in Tahiti and remains an essential part of their ancestral traditions, preserving a cultural bond between people and the ocean.

First Wave to Global Phenomenon 

Surf historians credit English botanist Joseph Banks as the first person to spot someone surfing in Tahiti while sailing aboard the Endeavour in 1769 under the command of Captain James Cook. Recalling the experience, Cook would go on to record in his journal: “I could not help concluding that this man felt the most supreme pleasure while he was driven on so fast and so smoothly by the sea.”

Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku (1890-1968), aka “The Duke,” was a Hawaiian-born Olympic swimming medalist who introduced surfing to the world in the early 1900s.

It's impossible to talk about the history of surfing without mentioning Duke Kahanamoku, born in Hawaii in 1890 and renowned as the father of modern surfing. A five-time swimming medalist in the 1912, 1920, and 1924 Olympics, “The Duke,” as he was known, had a deep passion for the waves and became the best surfer of his generation. At the time, surfing was almost unheard of outside of Hawaii and he embarked on a global tour to introduce “the sport of kings” to the world.

Today, as Tahitian locals Kauli Vasst and Vahine Fierro—joined by Carissa Moore (2021 Olympic gold medalist), Caroline Marks, Caity Simmers, Griffin Colapinto, and John John Florence representing the United States—prepare to ride Teahupo’o in search of gold, they can thank The Duke for bringing their sport to the world stage over 100 years ago.