There are quite a few events at the Olympics that could put an athlete in extreme danger if something goes wrong, but one event at this year’s Paris Olympics has been described as a matter of “life or death” for the athletes competing.
The 2024 Paris Olympics Games is the second Olympics to include surfing, but the setting of the event puts the athletes in a particular state of peril.
This year’s surfing event is taking place at Teahupo’o, which is a part of the French Polynesian island of Tahiti that experiences waves as high as 40 or 50 feet. But that’s not what makes the setting so dangerous – it’s the coral reef in the shallow water right below the surfers.
Because of this “razor-sharp” reef just below the surface of the shallow water, professional big wave surfer Garrett McNamara described the event as a matter of “life or death.”
“It’s one of the most beautiful and dangerous waves in the world,” McNamara told NPR. “It is just life or death from start to finish, big or small. The razor-sharp coral reef is just inches below you when you fall.”
“It’s not like other waves. Usually, you can see these giant swells on the horizon. At Teahupo’o … the whole ocean moves forward. You don’t see lines coming.”
“Once [the waves] get close to the reef, the whole bottom drops out. And the water that’s on the reef in front of you sucks off the reef somewhat like a waterfall and goes down below sea level. And then the wave curls over and the lip of the wave basically detonates on [the] reef.”
Obviously, all of the athletes competing in the Olympics are the best in the world at what they do and are well prepared to handle the treacherous setting. But it’s still quite dangerous for anyone participating.
[NPR]
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