Surfing, surfing on waves 15 thousand kilometers from Paris, is a sport and an art of living.

There is an Olympic discipline that takes place on French soil, yet it is 15,000 kilometers from Paris.

After making his debut at Tokyo 2020, Surfing returns to the Olympic programme in an incredible place: Teahupo'o, Tahitiwhich belongs to French Polynesia, an “overseas collectivity” of the French Republic, in the South Pacific Ocean. The symbolic photo of these 2024 Olympic Games comes from there.

The world of surfing lives among the waves in search of pure adrenaline, among tanned bodies and unkempt hair. And this contributes to feeding the myth of a way of life in the name of adventure and lightness.

There was a time when Hollywood snubbed this world and considered it devoid of commercial interests. Then in 1978, it appeared on the big screen “Big Wednesday” directed by Jean Milius: an epic film, which immediately becomes cult. The last wait is for the Great Wednesdaya storm of vast proportions.

The celebration of a passion and a feeling, where surfing interprets a challenge to the wavering rhythm of existence, in the attempt to remain in perpetual balance or to fall and find the strength to rise to the surface, to dance on the sea.

Surfing in Italy

In Italy too, on the central-western coast of Sardinia, on the Sinis peninsulathere is an untouched paradise, recognized by the European Commission as an “Eden” destination of excellence. AND Chief Mannu This is precisely the northern starting point of the Sinis Peninsula. The landscape offered by this promontory is one of the most beautiful and wildest on the entire island. Surfers love it, but their friends who do not practice this sport a little less. And the surfer's lifestyle also comes into play here. Uncontaminated places, extreme sports in some cases, wild nature, strong winds.

In the stories of those who have frequented this peninsula, as surfers, it is certain that it is a truly extreme experience, even without getting on the board to ride the waves. When the surfers stay on one side, those on the beach must stay on the other to prevent the strong winds from throwing stones at the imprudent “sunbathers”.

Surfing in teen series

Individual sport: “me, the board, the sea, the waves”. Everything else is not there or does not count, except the friendship and the challenge between them, in search of the perfect wave. The One Who's Looking for JJ, one of the characters from Outer Banksa Netflix series that talks a lot about the lightness and friendship of those who live the sea and their adventures even on a board, and that has made many teenagers fall in love with surfing and this world so full of nature.

In search of the perfect wave

But let's get back to the perfect wave which many believe is right there: at the Paris Olympics but 15,000 kilometers from the Eiffel Tower, across from a small town on the southwest coast of Tahiti, where most of French Polynesia's roughly 280,000 people live.

His name is Teahupo'o which in the Mahoi language means “perfect wave”: the only one, feared and awaited like the apparition of a marine divinity to contemplate and confront. Teahupo'o is regularly ranked among the five most dangerous waves in the world.

The father of surfing was an Olympian

Surfing as an Olympic discipline is also a tribute to the father of surfing, Duke Kahanamoku The Hawaiian who won five Olympic medals as a swimmer, but also distinguished himself in the film industry, politics and business life. His life embodies the surfer's lifestyle. In 1912, Kahanamoku wrote the history of the Hawaiian flag. Won gold in the 100-meter freestyle and silver in the 4×200 relay at the Stockholm OlympicsSurfing was far from becoming an Olympic discipline.

On December 23, 1914, the athlete starred in the first ever surfing exhibition at Freshwater Beach in Sydney, Australia. And he continued to collect Olympic medals (Antwerp, 1920 and Paris, 1924)as surfing began to become a global sport. In the 1930s and 1940s appeared in Hollywood filmswork as a mechanic and rescuerwas the first person to be inducted into both the Sthe Surfing Hall of Fame as well as the Swimming Hall of Fame. It was Honolulu Sheriff and in 1959, when Hawaii became the fiftieth state of the United States, it was officially named Hawaii State Aloha Ambassador and I even danced the hula with it the queen mother of england, elizabeth. Duke embodies the spirit of Aloha.

His ashes were thrown into the surf of Waikiki and a bronze statue was erected in his memory on Kuhio Beach in Honolulu. It welcomes everyone with open arms, surfers and non-surfers alike, and is one of Hawaii's most popular attractions.