Olympic Committee Shrinks Teahupo’o Judging Tower, Tahitian Locals Say It’s Not Good Enough

Watch Red Bull No Contest: Tahiti to hear what the owner of Teahupo’o thinks of the proposed tower plans.

“Fuck that”. “No tower”. “Taking us for clowns”…

That’s what one Tahitian local told Stab when we asked for comment on the Paris Olympics Committee’s recent decision to shrink the Teahupo’o judging tower from the $5 Million, 14-ton, 40-person, air-conditioned, shiny toilet-ed original tower design to a smaller, toned down “new tower”.

The “new tower” design — which came as a result of the protests in Tahiti and the subsequent social media onslaught — is supposed to have the same dimensions as the current, ol’ faithful wooden tower that has served the ASP and WSL for decades.

However, the locals don’t seem to be content with this new design. Why? As per Matahi Drollet’s IG post on the subject, the problem isn’t about any nostalgia for the old wooden tower or the proposed new toilets, or even the size of the judging tower itself — the real issue lies in what needs to be done to the reef underneath the judging tower to construct the “new permanent foundations“.

To put these new foundations in place, the Olympic committee must “clear out” the coral reef ecosystem that surrounds the current wooden tower with a floating drill device. Matahi’s video on the subject alleges that the Olympic committee has “falsified the environmental assessment” to get their plan approved and that the approved plan will kill endangered marine life and coral structures.

The Olympic committee asserts that the old wooden tower, “must be replaced if Teahupo’o is to continue to organize surfing events, whether for the Olympic Games or any other competition. The new tower, less imposing and reduced in size and weight, installed on new permanent foundations, is the solution that will ensure the longevity of the tower and guarantee that future sporting events can be held at Teahupo’o.”

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) maintains that they are, “placing sustainability at the heart of Paris 2024 project”.

The residents of Papeete, Tahiti, however, are not sold.

When Stab asked our source in Tahiti whether the locals plan on “blocking” the new, revised tower installation he said, simply, “For sure, same shit.”

Locals argue that the wooden tower is safe enough, good enough, and sustainable enough to serve the 2024 Paris Olympics, and that the Olympic committee is “lying” about their sustainability goals to trojan horse their real goal of poshness over environmentalism.