Who made the decision to build a huge tower for refereeing in Tahiti, for the surfing events at the upcoming 2024 Olympics? Everyone’s passing the surfboard back and forth. What creates the problem is the construction work, which could partly destroy biodiversity and a mythical wave on the island, renowned among surfers.
tower for refereeing 2019 Pro//WSL
It’s not the Tower of Babel, but all the same, it’s a 14-meter-high tower that will rest on 12 metal studs, three floors, an air-conditioned technical room for the Internet servers fed by an undersea cable, toilets with a drainage system connected to an 800-meter, 20-centimeter-diameter cast-iron pipe… These are the features of the judges’ tower due to the rise in Tahiti for the surfing events of the 2024 Olympic Games.
The entire tower will be made of aluminium, estimated to cost nearly 4.4 million euros, and is set to replace the demountable wooden tower hitherto used for various competitions, including international ones.
Tahiti is an Island in French PolynesiaPicture by 2019 World Surf League
The problem lies in the installation of the studs, which will require underwater drilling operations. This is a source of great concern to the locals, who fear for the biodiversity of the “La Mâchoire” site: for years, internationally renowned surfers have been competing from the wave, located some 400 metres from the shore at Teahupo’o.
Tahitian surfer Matahi Drollet told AFP: “It’s a certainty that they’ll damage the coral and even dig a channel. It’s also a destruction of our larder, one of the few places in Tahiti where surgeon fish is still edible”.The wooden tower has been rejected by the Olympic committee’s safety standards, said an official of the Olympic organizing committee, which took the decision to have the building constructed in exactly the same place and to use a special drilling technique so as not to damage the site.
Associations will undoubtedly have their eyes fixed on the site, but they have said they are reassured by the means implemented, while others are pointing the finger at the committee’s original promise: that the Olympic surfing events would adapt to Teahupo’o rather than the other way round…
Since Friday, October 27, the petition launched against the project has exceeded 100,000 signatures.
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