Surfing’s journey at the Olympic Games: from Paris to Tahiti

A delegation of four Spanish surfers will today head to the most remote Olympic venue in history. In Tahiti, a paradise island in French Polynesia 15,000 kilometres from the capital, the Olympic Games will leave the most beautiful postcard in one of the mythical enclaves of surfing. Paris has chosen this very distant venue – although located in French territory – to allow them to enjoy a unique wave to support a competition in an impressive setting. Three of the surfers will write their name in history and will seek a medal in Paris 2024, while the fourth will support them in all their needs, as he has been doing throughout the Olympics.

Aritz Aranburu, the only Spaniard to have competed in the professional circuit of the World Surf League – the Champions League of the discipline, in other words – is the hero who will remain behind the scenes of this great achievement of national surfing. He has been in charge of planning the roadmap to the exotic and dangerous wave of Tehaupo’o, as beautiful as it is lethal, with the support of the Basque Team, the CSD and the COE. It was a logical choice: no one in Spain has more experience on it or can better transmit its secrets to the great protagonists. In the previous Olympic cycle, the 38-year-old veteran was close to qualifying for the debut of the discipline in Tokyo, and he says that being able to participate in his own way at this peak moment fills him with joy.

“For me, being asked to go with them to the Games is the icing on the cake. Seeing that our surfers had secured three places was very nice, I felt like I was part of the process and passing the baton to the new generations,” Aranburu, a native of Zarautz, told Morning Express. The three pioneers of Spanish Olympic surfing, and it is no coincidence, come from the same area of ​​the Basque Country. Nadia Erostarbe (24 years old), also from Zarautz; Janire González-Etxabarri (19 years old), from neighbouring Zumaia; and Andy Criere (28 years old), from nearby Hendaye (in France), have known each other all their lives and are all products of the brilliant Basque surfing youth. All three grew up with their unique teacher in Tahiti as one of their main role models, and they have been able to enjoy him up close on the two preparation trips prior to the competition that starts on 27 July.

“He has managed to gather all the help to get us there, and without him I think we would not be half as prepared as we are now,” Criere says. “The program has been very well planned, and Aritz has shared with us all his knowledge of the wave and the area, and also that winning and warrior mentality that has taken him so far, with great merits on this wave at a competitive level and, in general, as a surfer,” adds the oldest of the Olympians. Aranburu, indeed, achieved his best professional result on the crystal-clear water break that literally eats up the island. From a seabed five kilometers deep, the swell hits a reef that barely covers the waist, creating real tongues of salt water reserved for the great specialists.

The three protagonists, who have competed until now in the second division of world surfing, have had to do an intensive program of tubes, the most coveted maneuver of the discipline. Basically, they place themselves inside the wave, between the lip and the break, to shoot out at high speed before it swallows them up to the seabed. In Tehaupo’o, the waves on the best days can reach seven meters, and the risks of an untimely fall are measured in the numerous scars that mark those who have dared to ride it. The challenge is physical and technical, but above all mental. “You compete against yourself, and the objective is to adapt as best as possible to the wave. This sport depends on Mother Nature and how you adapt to it,” explains Aranburu.

On the two costly but essential training trips, both lasting 10 days, the surfers have been able to test all the possible conditions on the wave and exchange experiences. Due to the complicated logistics and prohibitive outlay of the destination, it would have been difficult for them to test themselves in one of the mythological scenarios of the discipline with all the comfort and pertinent tools. “I was inspired to have made such a good group between the four of us. We are very different, but at the end of the day we are surfers… and neighbours,” Criere highlights. They will have taken over a hundred waves each, and not too many in extreme conditions. “You have to fall many times and get up. Catch many waves,” the Spanish-Frenchman sums up. This accumulation of experiences will be the main asset that everyone will carry in their backpack, a little lighter for González-Etxabarri, who missed the first trip due to an injury.

The final stretch of her preparation has consisted of finishing off details with the locals, a bit of surfing and an additional bit of gym work after awakening the competitive gene in some championships. “You have to work on your mentality, get into the rhythm of competition, and then physically use a lot of paddling, power and resistance. It is a wave that requires that,” says Criere. Erostarbe, who is in the best moment of her career and has medal prospects, comes from finishing fifth in South Africa and is still close to the dream of qualifying for the world circuit. She would be the first Spanish woman to achieve this. In the same event in Ballito, González-Etxabarri finished ninth, while Criere was unable to compete in the Spanish championship in Galicia due to the postponement of the event.

“Waves like this ask you to be calm. In difficult situations you have to know how to stay calm,” says Erostarbe. “The trips have been an incredible experience and having gained that confidence for the Olympic Games has been magnificent,” she adds. She was the first to qualify for the event at the World Championships in Puerto Rico, and Etxabarri will have the honor of being the first to participate in the Olympic Games. It remains to be seen if any of them will be able to continue, on the demanding, beautiful and dangerous wave of Tehaupo’o, making history and taking a medal among the best on the planet. Aranburu, the pioneer and one of the architects of this success, is content if everyone gives the best version of themselves: “I would love for them to do a performance in which they can show that they have embraced this process and have known how to adapt to this wave.”