TEXT: AIMI MAYNE. PHOTO: JULIEN GIRARDOT/DPPI/LIVEMEDIA/ALAMY.
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Making Olympic Waves in Tahiti Next year, the world’s best surfers and thrill-seeking spectators will descend on Teahupo’o, a quiet fishing village nestled between green peaks and an epic reef break on the southwest coast of the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The mystical, crystal-clear waters of Teahupo’o produce some of the heaviest, most challenging waves on the planet, all because of their perfect bathymetry: The way the seafloor rises rapidly, from about 5,000 to 1,000 feet deep, generates powerful barrel waves up to 22 feet high. For competitors, many of whom both fear and revere Teahupo’o, the surfing venue could not be more swell — even if it is two oceans away from the host city.
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