Surfing’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Begins Historic Event

Athletes join Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony broadcast from over 15,000 kilometers away
Competition window officially opens, first call to take place July 27, 6:15 a.m. TAHT

Teahupo’o, French Polynesia – July 26, 2024

Surfing’s second appearance in the Olympic Games officially kicked off today in the South Pacific island of Tahiti, French Polynesia with a stunning Opening Ceremony, an extension of the festivities in Paris, France that celebrated the beginning of the 33rd edition of the Games.

After five days of training sessions in the waves of Teahupo’o, the 48 qualified surfers, 24 women and 24 men, representing 21 nations, gathered on the shores of Parc Atimaono in Papara, Tahiti to feature on the internationally televised broadcast, joining their national Olympic teams remotely.

An incredible array of Tahitian culture welcomed the world’s best surfers to the beautiful island territory. The athletes and officials were greeted with Himene Ai’a (traditional Tahitian singing) and an Orero de Mataiea (a traditional declamation), before they joined in a Parade of Nations, waving their flags high as a large local and international crowd cheered them on.

Multiple dignitaries shared welcomes and speeches, including the President of French Polynesia, Moetai Brotherson, the Minister for Overseas France, Marie Guévenoux, and ISA President, Fernando Aguerre.

“What an amazing location to celebrate Olympic Surfing!” Aguerre declared. “When Paris 2024 chairman Tony Estanguet told me about the potential for coming to Teahupo’o my answer was very simple, ‘I love it!’ Here we are in beautiful Tahiti. This is a magical field of play for everybody. What better way to celebrate Olympic surfing than in Teahupo’o, in some of the world’s best waves. Teahupo’o, Tahiti, we love you and we thank you for welcoming us in such an incredible and warm way.”

Aguerre further encouraged the competitors, along with all of the surfers of the world, “The oceans need us today more than ever. Let’s use this special occasion to further commit our surfing tribe to ocean and nature protection.”

The traditional ISA ‘Sands of the World’ ceremony followed, with a surfer from each nation pouring sand collected from a beach in their nation into a single container as a symbol of the peaceful gathering of nations of the world through surfing. President Aguerre was the last to participate, pouring sand from Rio de Janeiro, the location where it was first announced that Surfing would be included in the Olympic Games, along with a shell from Ichinomiya Beach in Japan, where Surfing’s Olympic debut took place as a part of Tokyo 2020. The container will be placed in the City Hall of Teahupo’o.

To close, fair play, humility and respect were all celebrated in a Rahiri Ceremony. An athlete representing each team, along with Minister Guévenoux, Presidents Aguerre and Brotherson, and their fellow dignitaries placed banana leaves atop each other, to be tied in a single package, which will remain on the beach at Teahupo’o as a show of unity.

The competition window will be open for 10 days, finishing on August 5, with approximately four days needed to determine the medalists.

The first call to decide when competition will run will take place on July 27 at 6:15 a.m. and the forecast is looking amazing for an immediate start with overhead waves and clean winds expected to put on a show for the world.

Stay tuned to isasurf.org for Paris 2024 schedule updates, content, and information.