French Polynesia’s homeboy Kauli Vaast has won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s shortboard finals of the Paris 2024 surfing event and in the process made history in Teahupo’o.

Radio 1 reports Vaast 22, an indigenous Tahitian, beat Australia’s Jack Robinson to become the first French Olympic surf champion.

Vaast, who grew up in Mahina (near Teahupo’o) and started surfing there when he was four years old, was immediately dubbed “King of Teahupo’o”.

He becomes the first ever French Polynesian sportsman to win an Olympic gold medal for France — and adding to the Paris Olympics hosts tally to make it 13 gold medals.

“When I was a kid, I knew I want to do a lot of stuff on this wave,” Vaast told Olympics.com before the competition started.

“It was a dream for me. I always dreamed about doing a contest here, winning a contest there. It’s still in my mind, a dream. And I’m going to work for it,” he was quoted as saying.

As fans and supporters were starting to celebrate in Tahiti, Vaast’s mother, Natou, told local media she usually did not watch her son compete because of the associated stress.

“But when he’s competing in Tahiti, I just go gardening in the backyard and then I know when I hear the neighbours’ cheers”.

Earlier today (Monday Tahiti time), in the women’s category, France’s Johanne Defay secured a bronze medal and also entered history in winning the first medal ever at an Olympic surfing event.

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As French Polynesia’s Olympic surfing competition began this weekend, it will be the only event to host athletes in a floating hotel.

The accommodation is provided by the luxury French Polynesia ship Aranui 5 for the duration of the surfing competition being held on the iconic site of Teahupo’o on July 27-30.

What is now the Paris Olympics’ only floating hotel and Olympic village usually carries passengers and freight to outlying Pacific islands.

The choice for a floating Olympic village was made because, in this part of Tahiti, there was no adequate facility located close enough to the competition site.

The 28 international competitors and their delegations have arrived and are settled on board the Aranui 5.

Onboard they are being treated to French and Polynesian cuisine, as well as local Polynesian dances every night.

The favourites in the competition are also home-grown — in the female competition, Vahine Fierro, who made history in May to win the Tahiti leg of the World Surfing League’s competition, has been surfing on the Teahupo’o wave since she was 15.

Kauli Vast, in the men’s event, also grew up on the world-renowned site.

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French Polynesia’s new President Moetai Brotherson is in Paris for wide-ranging talks with the French government and the organisers of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

His visit involves meetings with a range of ministers and officials to continue cooperation arrangements initiated by his predecessor.

“I’m not here to come begging,” Brotherson said, adding that he wanted to ensure that France was helping to decrease dependence on French financial transfers by developing French Polynesia as a country with its own resources.

He told the news site Outremers360 that he wants any process of self-determination to be arbitrated by the United Nations.

Restating a timeframe of up to 15 years until a referendum on independence, Brotherson said that it was not utopian.

“[French] Polynesia is as big as Europe, and in terms of population, it is [the size of] Montpellier”, he said, referring to the southern French city with its 300,000 inhabitants.

He said time needed to be taken to prepare, and by seeking independence “we will be able to take decisions with full responsibility”.

By contrast, he said the preceding pro-autonomy governments had the reflex to say that in the end, if they did not make the right decisions, they would turn to “mother” France.

Support for seabed mining ban
Brotherson met the State Secretary for the Sea Herve Berville who reconfirmed the French government’s support for a seabed mining ban.

Berville also reconfirmed that such a ban would also apply to French Polynesian waters.

Brotherson again expressed his unwavering support for next year’s Olympic surfing competition to be held in Tahiti.

After flooding in the area last month, French Polynesian Sports Minister Nahema Temarii cast doubt on Tahiti being able to go ahead with the competition.

However, the site manager of the Paris Olympics organising committee, as well as Brotherson, said the event would go ahead as planned.

After becoming President last month, Brotherson will this week officially relinquish his seat in the French National Assembly, to which he was re-elected last year when his pro-independence Tavini Huira’atira for the first time won all three available Paris seats.

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