“We really have a dream team, that’s for sure. Every surfer on Team USA can win gold, it’s going to be amazing. It’s going to be my first Olympic Games, so I’m really looking forward to it.” The USA has decided to send its best players to the Olympic Games, starting with Griffin Colapinto (age 25), the world number 2, who will therefore compete in his first Olympics.
On the terrible wave of Teahupo’o, whose literal translation in Tahitian means “wall of skulls”, the United States arrives, for the second appearance of surfing at the Olympics, with a team perfectly designed to win, like their basketball colleges.
On the one hand, three ambitious young guns at the top of their form: Griffin Colapinto and the prodigy Caitlin Simmers (world No. 2 only 18 years old) and Caroline Marks (No. 5 and victorious at the Tahiti Pro in 2023 at 21 ) years old) .
On the other hand, two Hawaiians who are used to big waves and have crushed the competition for years: John John Florence (31 years old, 2-time world champion in 2016 and 2017, world no. 1) and Carissa Moore (31 years old, 5) times world champion and reigning Olympic champion).
“A special place”
“I have good teammates […] everyone has a role to play”recognizes from AFP Carissa Moore, who withdrew from the pro tour this year to rest and prepare exclusively for the Olympic deadline.
Considered one of the best surfers in history, she spent the entire month of May in Tahiti to improve “to log in” to the translucent pipes offered by Teahupo’o and the almost mystical environment of the village at the end of the road, in the very south-west of the island.
“It’s really a special place, it’s a beautiful wave. I don’t feel connected enough to her yet, so the more time I spend here, the better.”explains the surfer from Honolulu, where she started surfing competitively at the age of 6.
Hampered by injuries for several years, his compatriot John John Florence is back on the pro-tour in 2024 and is also one of the surfers with the most experience on the tubes of the “Jaw of the Sea”.
“I was really excited when Teahupo’o was selected for the Olympics because it’s one of the best waves in the world. This will be an incredible experience » enthused Florence to AFP, who came to surf it for the first time as a 14-year-old.
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Without Kelly Slater
“If the conditions are good and we get a big Teahupo’o, it will probably come down to whoever is least scared”laughs this young father with blond, curly hair, who lost in the final of the 2024 Tahiti Pro.
Florence and Colapinto blocked the path to Olympic qualification for sports legend Kelly Slater, eleven-time world champion, who at 52 still dreamed of one last feat in Tahiti, where he won five times on the tour, a record.
But even without “King Kelly”, “This team is incredible”judges official pro-tour commentator since 2007 Joe Turpel, considered the “voice of surfing” with more than 100 events under his belt.
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From July 27 to August 5 in Tahiti, Brazil, the dominant surfing nation for a decade seems to be the only country capable of withstanding the American armada. But Frenchmen Kauli Vaast and Vahine Fierro, two children of Teahupo’o, will also have their cards to play if the conditions are right.
