As concern mounts in Polynesia regarding the environmental impact of surfing events during the next Olympics, Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra reaffirmed this Friday that the site remains the organization’s number 1 choice.
“I hope that this extraordinary site of Teahupo’o, where there is this incredible wave, absolutely unique in the world, can continue to be our absolutely central option and that we manage to find the best solution,” said the minister in margin of the unveiling of the Paralympic flame route at the headquarters of the Olympic organizing committee in Saint-Denis.
Tension rose a notch this week after comments by the President of Polynesia Moetai Brotherson explaining that he was considering a change of site for the surfing event to Taharuu, a less renowned site but easier to access than Teahupo’o, on the West Coast.
The Polynesian government “is not encouraging a change of site, it is today in the process of revisiting the different options, on this subject of the judges’ tower”, affirmed the Minister of Sports. This aluminum tower is, in its current configuration, accused of damaging the seabed. “I don’t see where we could get the barge (of the drill) through (…) without exploding coral,” Moetai Brotherson explained to AFP.
No other site considered by Cojo
“I will have the opportunity to go back and see them in December, we are at a time where decisions will be made with the results of the analyzes in the very next few days. I will call Moetai Brotherson this weekend to discuss these elements with him,” added the minister, referring to the date of “November 20” for “the analysis report”.
For his part, the president of the organizing committee, Tony Estanguet explained that “for the moment there is no option to work on another competition site, all the options that are on the table and that “We are working, there are 6 of them, they are on the Teahupo’o site,” he said. “There are different options with normally by the end of November a decision on which option will be retained,” he said, explaining that he would also go there “in the coming weeks. »