A Bit Different Than In Paris: Olympic Surfing Fashion In Tahiti

It’s almost 10,000 miles from Paris to Papeete, Tahiti, in French Polynesia, and then a little bit on to Teahupo‘o, home of the biggest, steadiest wavesets in the world. Those big waves were why, on July 29, as the Olympic men’s shortboard surfing competition rocked on into round 3, all eyes were on Brazil’s flashy Gabriel Medina who, in the fifth heat, snagged a big one and spent some time nesting in what surfers call the “greenroom,” or the barrel of the wave as it broke over him.

Exiting a great wave that’s moving at speed in a different direction from the surfer creates a natural springboard built from the massive power of the wave. Suffice it to say, Medina, a three time world champion and, we should note, a devout Christian, got huge air, turned, faced the shore, and, using the moment from that amazing pulpit, pointed to the heavens. Aptly, his surfboard did nose up parallel to him. Below, a shot of the Olympic flame in the hands of French surfer Vahine Fierro on Tahiti in June.

But Medina’s grand jete was more than just a balletic expression of Olympic triumph (for that exemplary ride he did receive a 9.9 from the tower, the highest score recorded thus far), and it was more than an expression of his faith. It was a sublime, stylish expression of exuberance in the athletic moment. His feet are so casually parallel to the water that it seems he could just sling the board under his arm and walk on his magic pillow of air back to the beach. That surfing only officially became an Olympic sport in 2020 made the moment all the sweeter. The message? Big, delightful metaphysical moments like this will be happening in future Olympic surfing competitions. It’s only good that surfing’s in the Olympic clubhouse now.

Needless to say, all of that, Medina’s excellent performance, the uncommon height and power of his exit, and not least, the perfect capture of the moment by Agence France Presse photographer Jerome Bouillet vaulted the photograph into the viral stratosphere. Like no reportage before, it, the photograph has focused the world’s attention on Tahiti and the tiny surfing shard of the Olympics seated there. Below, a shot of American actor Colin Jost, in his regulation NBC blazer and with his handy mic, in an off-duty moment in Teahupo‘o.

To his colleagues in the press, who hounded him for quotes as the photograph was going viral, AFP photographer Bouillet was exquisitely direct. “It’s very cool, it’s a nice shot and lots of people love it. It’s not really a surf photograph so it captures the attention of more people.”

Which is the real point. Tahiti’s version of the Olympics looks wholly, hilariously different from the Games’ massive venues in France. Surfers have a distinct, homey, Pacific Basin style in fashion and in life, and the popularity of that, the fashion and the lifestyle, far exceeds their sport’s reach. French Polynesia has been a kind of loner tropical retreat since impressionist/symbolist Paul Gauguin famously went there to “free” his painting in 1891 — a beatnik-ish pursuit not unlike those of the hundreds of surfer pilgrims to Tahiti searching for transcendant wavesets, in fact.

But Tahiti and French Polynesia remain just off the beaten touristic track, except for enduring presence of the global surfing community, French expats living out their versions of Gauguin, and a handful of hardy Pacific-crossing yachtsmen. Which is to say, Tahiti’s brief shining 21st-century Olympics moment is, also, refracted through the lens of Gauguin. How could it not be? As is easy to see from the dancers welcoming the Olympic athletes, the island’s culture runs deeper than Gauguin’s high-colonial time in it, but he remains the original news-bringer-to-the-West for this part of the world.

Many of the surfers in the 2024 Olympics are as at home in latter-day in Teahupo‘o and Tahiti as the legendary French painter was in the Tahiti of his day. Among them, it’s a very different picture of the Olympics that we get. Below, a picture of Shino Matsuda of Japan, in round two on July 28, after she had clocked a win in the third heat.

John John Florence, pictured center below, is the American team’s standard-bearer and world-class veteran pipe surfer, which is understandable, since the Hawaiian grew up near the archipelago’s famous Banzai Pipeline, in the very birthplace of surfing. In other words, he’s a child of the Pacific where his sport originated, and he and his teammates are roughing up their Lauren blazers accordingly. Ralph who? The viewer has the sense that the team won’t be in the formal kit long, once they get through the welcome ceremony.

A bit of a different shot of Alexander in mid-boogie with the French Polynesian dancers welcoming the teams.

Brazil’s team is coming on strong, and not simply because of Medina. The Brazilian women’s side is led by Tatiana Weston-Webb, who has been putting up some nice scores in the early going, pictured below at ease, paddling in during round one on July 27.

Below, a shot of John John Florence out of his Lauren blazer and in action on July 27, giving the “greenroom” a run for its money in his rash guard, the sheer top surfers wear to ward off attacks by sea lice, whose burrowing stings can really put a crimp in a good ride.

Surfing was invented in Hawaii, heavily and suddenly Americanized through World War II, and which then became the fiftieth state. In fashion history terms, then, surfing style is ur-American with a dollop of ur-Hawaiian, a fact that the sport and its designers have built upon throughout the 20th century and into the 21st. Americans control much of the sport, as do other surf-rich countries from Australia to South Africa, South America and beyond, but American designers put an early stamp on the look of this sport, and on much of the sport itself.

John John Florence will have his work cut out for him over the next days in competition with Medina and others, but off duty, it’s a sure thing that every surfer in Teahupo‘o is going to be kicking back with the same, trademark, very American, beach-side laissez-faire.