They will descend on Tahiti for Olympic surfing. Can locals protect their way of life?

Teahupo’o has achieved world renown among surfers  and will be home to the 2024 Paris Olympics surfing competition. But there are local concerns that a way of life is being sacrificed

TEAHUPO'O, FRENCH POLYNESIA - AUGUST 19: Australian surfer Olivia Ottaway dives under a wave on August 19, 2023 in Teahupo'o, French Polynesia. Teahupo'o has been hosting the WSL Tahiti Pro event for over two decades and will next year host the surfing event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

Peva Levy said he felt a powerful, natural energy known as “mana” when he surfed Teahupo’o’s waves on a piece of plywood for the first time, rushing down a crumbling white surf in front of an untouched volcanic beach several years before the steady streams of surfers started arriving when the village got its first asphalt road over 50 years ago.

“It was a secret spot,” the surfer and Tahitian native remembered, as he stood on the pristine beaches of Teahupo’o on the island’s south side, waves crashing off in the distance. “But it was not a secret spot for a long time.”