Olympic surfing controversy deepens

The International Surfing Association (ISA) said it proposed next year’s Olympic competitions be judged remotely after plans to build a new tower at a famous Tahiti beach sparked fierce local resistance.

A proposal made to Paris 2024 organisers and the Polynesian government suggested the use of “live images shot from land, water and drones” to judge events at Teahupo’o on the French Pacific island.

The proposition, revealed by the ISA in a statement on Tuesday, came after a construction barge used to install a new judges’ tower in the sea broke through part of a colourful coral reef during testing.

“Faced with this change of position, Paris 2024 will contact the key stakeholders… to understand how the ISA envisages the organisation of events without access to a judges’ tower,” the Paris Olympics organising committee responded.

It added that surfing’s governing body had been “fully included in discussions since 2021 over the need to build a new tower for the proper organisation of broadcasting and refereeing operations”.

The issue has had environmentalists up in arms and an online petition against the project has attracted more than 227,000 signatures.

The ISA said it put forth its proposal for remote judging on December 9, a day before Polynesian leader Moetai Brotherson announced that the surfing contest would stay at its planned venue.

Brotherson presented a plan in stages for construction of the new aluminium tower, which is to be completed by May 13, in time for a World Surf League (WSL) event seen as a dress rehearsal for the Olympics.

During the talks with concerned parties, he had won “unanimous backing from mayors, the (Tahiti) surfing federation and even the associations, except one,” Brotherson said.

France’s Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera criticised the testing which damaged the beach’s fragile corals for being “not well prepared” but ruled out any relocation of the surfing events.

The ISA earlier this month welcomed the decision by authorities to suspend work on the 14-metre (46 feet) tower due to replace an existing wooden structure that is no longer up to required standards.

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AFP

(NAMPA / AFP)