Paris 2024 Olympic Surfing and MetOcean Solutions; Understanding Teahupo'o

The 2024 Paris Olympics have just concluded and it was a spectacular showcase of a wide range of sports. Surfing was included in the line-up of Olympic events for the second time in history.  

The French Olympic committee had options to host the Surfing event in France, at some of the best beach breaks in the world, or at one of the several French territories renowned for having world class surf.   

July and August are not well known for optimal surfing conditions on the west coast of France, so early on, organisers decided to locate the Olympic surfing event at Teahupo'o, on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, a surf break known for its powerful and dangerous barrelling waves in pristine blue water. 

Last year, with some of our teams’ French connections, together with strong knowledge and renown wave models of the South pacific, MetOcean Solutions was commissioned to undertake a wave study to support the Surfing France team in preparation for the Olympic games. 

The focus of our work was to look at the Teahupo'o surfing wave climate. We undertook an assessment of the likely surfing wave conditions for the planned Olympic games contest period, ultimately to provide the French Surfing team with insight into expected conditions during the event. 

To provide the background on potential conditions, MetOcean undertook an analysis of the historical surfing wave climate at the site using hindcast wind and wave models, defining surfing-specific wave/wind statistics with a focus on the period of interest and an assessment of the influence of large-scale climate oscillations such as El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). 

A good understanding of the conditions that are statistically likely to occur during an event is an important factor to support athlete preparation. For example, to train on the type of waves that may occur, optimise board and fin configurations and focus on the type of point scoring manoeuvres. Enhancing wave IQ for the spots, including understanding frequencies of sets allows competitors to strategize about their heats in advance and provides a mental edge to competitors going into competitively stressful situations where small advantages can be the difference between Gold and Silver.  

MetOcean Solutions supported the French Surfing team further, providing a detailed wave forecast for Havae and Teahupo'o, leading up to and through the period of the Olympic event. The forecast was provided through our commercial weather delivery tool, Insights Platform. 

The French Olympic team and Surfing France must be very proud, taking home two medals for France; a local French Polynesian surfer, Kauli Vaast, winning the Men's Gold, and Johanne Defay taking home the women’s Bronze medal.  

Dr Alexis Berthot

Figure 4:

French surfer Kauli Vaast winning Gold at the Paris Olympics  with a 9.50 barrel !! 

Picture by AFP or licensors 

Figure 1:

Bar plots showing the percentage of time favourable surfing conditions are experienced at Teahupo'o.

Figure 2:

Example of watershed partitioning of a wave spectrum (from Hendrik L. Tolman, 2014). 

Figure 3: 

Men's Medal Winners (Left to right): Jack Robinson representing Australia (Men's Silver),  Kauli Vaast representing France (Men's Gold), and Gabrial Medina representing Brazil (Men's Bronze)

Woman's Medal Winners (Left to right):  Tatiana Weston-Webb   representing Brazil (Woman’s Silver), Caroline Marks   representing USA (Woman’s Gold), and Johanne Defay   representing France (Woman’s Bronze)