Olympic Games’ Reach Extends Beyond Paris

For all of the attention on Paris’ use of temporary venues and existing landmarks throughout the city for the 2024 Olympic Summer Games, plenty of the focus has also been on a venue nearly 10,000 miles away where surfing will be organized in the Teahupo’o village in the overseas territory of French Polynesia.

“The women have only really started competing there the last few years,” U.S. surfer Carissa Moore said. “Tahiti is a beautiful place and the people there are absolutely extraordinary.”

Paris organizers are not selling any tickets for the surfing events in Tahiti, which is a regular on the World Surf League tour. French Polynesian surfer Vahine Fierro and Italo Ferreira of Brazil won a WSL event in Teahupoʻo on Tahiti recently as the giant waves, set against a backdrop of tropical mountains, provided a preview of what’s in store for both athletes and viewers.

“Thank you Teahupoʻo for sending me the best waves of my life,” Fierro said. “It was the perfect amount of energy. Like not too big, but just enough to push us and you know, and try. And we all tried. We all had big wipeouts we went in the lagoon, we came back, tried again and just got the best waves of our lives.”

Using Tahiti as a venue has not been without debate. Critics on the island have voiced fears for coral reefs, fish and other aquatic life where a viewing tower’s foundations are being drilled into the seabed and mounted on concrete. Other infrastructure on the island is getting prepared including renovation of a hotel and a renovated marina and road access to the sea.

Staging an event half a world away from the Olympic host city is not unique though; in 1956, horse quarantine rules in Australia meant equestrian events were held in Stockholm, five months before the opening ceremony in Melbourne.

“I felt like in Tokyo I felt we were far removed as well,” Moore said. “We were 1, 2 hours from the Olympic Village and we missed the Opening Ceremonies. I’m excited for it be in Tahiti but to be so far away from everything, I haven’t had the actual Olympic experience just yet. I don’t know how many more Olympics I’ll be part of but hopefully we’ll be able to hop a plane and get to the Closing Ceremonies.”

More Than Surfing’s Separated

Surfing’s remote venue has the most attention but is not the only Games venue that involves travel.

Basketball’s preliminaries will be at Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille, 140 miles away, before heading to Paris for the medal round at the Accor Arena once gymnastics is finished. Handball, meanwhile, will have its group stage at the South Paris Arena before having the medal round in Lille at Pierre Mauroy.

“I think Lille is going to be a great venue for basketball,” USA Basketball women’s star Breanna Stewart said. “Someone told me they had an event a few years ago and it was off the charts. Excited to see the city but knowing logistically it’s going to be a little bit more of a challenge.”

For Stewart, that challenge involves family considerations with her wife and their children. “Marta and I are going to make the best decision for our kids, whether that’s staying in Paris the entire time and I do Lille, then meet them in Paris or whatever the case will be.”

It is those family considerations that USA Basketball Managing Director Grant Hill said has been a point of emphasis for the national governing body, admitting “from a logistics standpoint it’s tricky that first week.” USA Basketball will have accommodations in Lille for the first week before going back to Paris for the medal round.

“The great thing is there’s two days between games so we can train back and still be able to enjoy Paris and enjoy the Olympic experience and families can enjoy it as well,” Hill said. “I don’t want to give away all the specifics in terms of what that is and how that looks like, but we’ll make sure that our guys are prepared and will be ready for the games. We’ll also make sure that they and their families will be able to enjoy Paris.”

USA Basketball Chief Executive Officer Jim Tooley described on the SportsTravel Podcast how knowing what the schedule was going to be far in advance helped those logistical plans.

“This wasn’t at the 11th hour where we had to scramble to make arrangements,” he said. “We had a sufficient lead time, so we feel comfortable there. … we’ll still working out whether guests will go up the day of the game and come back, it will depend on the game times and the train schedule. But we’re prepared for that and we have practice facilities in both cities.”

Soccer will be held not only in Paris but Marseille, Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes, Nice and Saint-Étienne. However, the various venues mean the U.S. men’s and women’s teams will miss the Opening Ceremony; the women’s team plays the day before in Nice while the men’s team has its opening game the day after the Opening Ceremony in Marseille.

“We do have a little bit of FOMO missing out on the Opening Ceremony,” said Crystal Dunn. “I don’t think we’ve ever made it to the Opening Ceremony; we usually put on our outfits and act like we’re at the Opening Ceremony. It’s our little fun thing we do.”

The various venues around France could bring back fond memories for the U.S. women’s team, which has not won gold at the Games since 2012 but five years ago won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.

“We really get the short end of the deal,” said Dunn. “We don’t stay in the Olympic village; we travel outside of Paris. People say the Paris Olympics, for us it’s the Marseille Olympics, the Nice Olympics. (But) it’s cool either way. We understand soccer requires stadiums and all the stadiums are not in Paris. I think it opens up new opportunities for us to see all the beauty of France which we’re looking forward to.”

Then there is sailing, which will be in Marseille, just under 500 miles from Paris — which is many things but is not around a body of water big enough for the sport. U.S. sailor Hans Henken said his team planned to almost all of the 100 days before the Games in Marseille to train and study wind patterns.

“It’s uncommon for sailing to take place at the same venue as the Olympics other than Rio (in 2016),” Henken said. “Just because our event’s not taking place in Paris it’s not that big of a deal. I’m just happy to be involved with the Olympic community. I’m sure a lot of the surfers will be taking part in the same situation — that’s going to be a completely different experience.”