Olympics-Surfing-Good waves expected to kick off Tahiti surfing, ISA head says

By Lincoln Feast

TEAHUPO'O, Tahiti (Reuters) - Surfing in the Paris Games is likely to kick off in excellent waves at the perfect reef break of Teahupo'o on Saturday, the head of the governing body said, vindicating the decision to hold the event in Tahiti, a record 16,000km from the host city.

Holding an event away from the continent where the main Games were held happened only once in the history of the modern Olympics - in 1956, when the equestrian events for the Melbourne Games were held in Sweden because of quarantine regulations.

"So we were paddling for a wave we didn't know would come," International Surfing Association president Fernando Aguerre said. "We didn't know if the IOC would have the stomach for that. But we reviewed a lot of the options for that and it was clear that staying in European France meant a disaster, probably a disaster, for the waves."

The forecast for Teahupo'o over the waiting period from July 27-Aug 5 includes days expected to be double over-head height, and good conditions, while the beaches around top French surf zone of Hossegor are likely to have mostly poor or fair conditions with wave heights in the chest to head-high range, according to official forecaster Surfline.com.

Beaches closer to Paris in Brittany are expected to be mostly flat to a couple of feet high.

"The IOC and the Olympic Committee understood the challenge of having OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) operating here as opposed to a beach near Paris but I am totally positive that the rewards will be huge.

"We know Saturday and Sunday are going to be amazing for waves. Not big and scary Teahupo'o, but very nice, high quality so we are going to see some great performances."

Surfing will made its third Olympic appearance in Los Angeles in 2028 and Aguerre said a decision for the venue there was coming down to Huntington Beach or Trestles, near San Clemente.

"But I won't second guess the organisers and we've been kind of evaluating the pros and cons of each of them and they're both amazing. So it will be in a good place."

Aguerre said a decision not to include surfing in the LA Paralympics was disappointing but understandable.

"I understand the dynamics... The costs of having different multiple events, multiple medals because of the nature of para sports.

"I was actually a parasurfing national championships in Argentina when the news came out and I said 'It's ok, we had a wipeout, so what? We get on the board, paddle back out, there is a new wave coming.' So I think it's the right thing."

(Reporting by Lincoln Feast in Tahiti, editing by Pritha Sarkar)