Why is there a floating Olympic Village in Tahiti?

(NEXSTAR) — Olympic surfing is being held on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti for this year’s Summer Games. To support the 48 surfers competing for a gold medal, organizers had to get creative with infrastructure, leading to the creation of a floating Olympic Village.

The Aranui Five cruise ship is docked just a few miles away from the Olympic surfing wave. This floating village eliminates the need for traditional on-land infrastructure.

“It’s been pretty crazy,” said German Olympic surfer Camilla Kemp. “We don’t have buses; we have boats that take us to the spot, they take us to land.”

The ship serves as home-away-from-home for many of the Olympic surfers.

“We have everything. They treat us like queens and kings, so very happy to be here and to have this as our little Olympic village in Tahiti. We have a buffet 24/7, we have a little gym, and each athlete has a room for themselves with a little balcony with ocean view, which is amazing. We have a little spa area which is also cool for recovery,” Kemp continued.

One of the most common questions is about the beds.

“Are the beds made out of cardboard? ” Kemp laughs, referring to the cardboard beds used in France’s Olympic Village. “No, they are not. We actually have metal beds. They’re very comfortable, very big, and we have the best view from our bed. The best thing here is actually the view. We get to see the beautiful island all the time. We’re in the ocean, exactly where we want to be, and it’s been amazing.”

Some teams, including Team USA, opted to rent homes on land instead of staying in the floating village. Many of these surfers have been competing for years at “The End of the Road” (the nickname for Teahupo’o, a Tahitian village popular with surfers) and have established routines and preferences for which homes they rent and which families they stay with. They didn’t want to disrupt these patterns for the Paris 2024 Games.

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