In response to the criticism, 98% of Olympic accommodation will now be inside the homes of local residents, with athletes housed on a cruise ship docked nearby. The Arbitration Tower has been reduced in size and new infrastructure plans are being drawn up to reduce the need for new construction.
A surfer walks along the beach in Teahupoo.credit: AP
But concerns remain. Environmentalists and local fishermen fear that drilling into coral reefs will attract ciguatera, a microscopic algae that infects fish and makes people sick if they eat them. Many depend on what they catch in the ocean.
Mormon Mighty, 22, makes a living spearfishing the lakes, feeding his family and selling what he has left. “The lake is our refrigerator, and it's where we get our dinner,” he said.
Islanders say the desired shape of the waves could also be affected, if the reef splits and loses the shape that waves rely on to form.
“If it cracks and breaks, there won't be another wave here, and it will be over for us,” Levy said.
In December, local fears were confirmed when a barge destroyed parts of the reef on its way to a construction site on the reef. A video clip of the damage spread on social media, causing a huge uproar.
A couple sells bags of fresh tuna on the side of the road in Teahupoo.credit: AP
Cindy Otsinasek, president of Via Ara o Teahupo'o, described the devastation as extremely painful. “In Polynesian culture, gods are everywhere, in the coral, in the ocean,” she said. “The ocean is considered the most sacred temple.”
“Fish live around coral reefs, so if we break a coral, we break a house,” she said.
Olympic organizers expressed concern about the incident.
“It was horrific for us,” said Barbara Martinez-New, director of events for the organizing committee of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. “Tahitians have this special relationship with nature, with their land, and it was a bombshell for us.”
A child plays on a statue of the Teahupoo wave at the end of the road.credit: AP
Martins-New said their interactions with local groups are now improving, and the organizing team has stepped back from many issues and is better engaging local groups so that construction work is fully transparent.
Despite the concerns, some on the island still see the games as an opportunity. Many locals support it, the economic benefits it could bring and the prestige it would give to their little corner of French Polynesia.
Gregory Parker was born and raised in Teahupoo, and his morning routine consists of watching the waves crash along the horizon from his beach house while smoking a cigarette. But while the games are being held in the city, he's willing to sacrifice that for a little spare cash by renting it out.
Surfers paddle over the crest of a wave in Teahupoo, Tahiti.credit: AP
His family owns a large portion of property in the village which is regularly rented out to the international surfing community during the annual World Surf League competition, and he intends to do the same for the Olympics.
“I'll try to live at my daughter's house during the games. If she rents out her house too, I'll have a tent,” Parker said. “It's not hard for two weeks, and considering all the money I'll make, it's worth it.”
A few months before the Games, a small group of local surfers were bobbing up and down in the water, waiting for the perfect wave, when 21-year-old Cowley Fast, who is competing in the Olympics this year, spotted it forming.
He hurriedly inserted his board into one of the glass tubes, and slid out before the wave trembled on the reef, a monstrous spray of white foam falling behind him.
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“Magical things happen here, you feel this energy and you have to show respect,” Fast said. “It's very important to show respect in these types of places where you encounter Mother Nature.”
Fast learned how to surf these waves when he was just eight years old, nearly 40 years after Peva Levy first felt the power of a wave. Mana that many islanders feel and want to preserve.
“We hear a lot about the infrastructure and the legacy that the Olympics will leave, but we already have the legacy of our ancestors,” Otsinasek said. “Teahupo'o is God's land before it is the land of toys.”
