Introduced in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, surfing will be part of the 2024 Summer Games, too. However, the competition will take place far from Paris, in the waters of the French Polynesian island of Tahiti. Among the four French surfers in the competition is Tahiti’s very own Vahine Fierro.
Fierro, the 2017 World Junior Champions, has known those waters for a long time and tasted triumph there recently. In May, she won her maiden World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour event on the same waves that will host the Olympics. Now 24, she has been surfing since childhood, picking up the art from her parents, who were also surfers.
Born on the island of Raiatea, Fierro trains in Teahupo’o – the Tahitian village which will welcome the Olympic surfers.
Queen of Teahupo’o
Called “The Queen of Teahupo’o”, Vahine Fierro has turned the world-class surfing paradise into her playground, intrepidly riding monstrous waves with grace.
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“You always have to know where you stand in front of the ocean,” she told Air Tahiti Nui. “You have to be very careful because it’s a sport that involves risks. Before going in the water, it is important to always look at the conditions and judge if you are able to surf or not.”
Raised on the island of Huahine in French Polynesia, she moved to nearby Tahiti as a teenager as there were no lycees (high schools) nearer home. She went on to compete in Europe.
Fierro qualified for the 2024 Olympics at the 2023 World Surfing Games in Salvador, as the best previously unqualified European competitor.[
She still rides surfboards shaped by her father, even after being picked up recently by Al Merrick, founder of the famous Channel Islands Surfboards.
‘Tahiti is special, but Huahine is even more special’
In an interview with Freesurf, she said, “Tahiti is special, but Huahine is even more special. We have perfect waves with literally nobody out. It’s warm, the people are so friendly and the food is so healthy! When I travel to Hawaii or other places, it makes me appreciate home even more because Hawaii is pretty crowded in the water, and in other places it gets cold and you have to put your wetsuit on. In Huahine, I wake up early with my family, go down the hill, turn my boat on, drive for three minutes, and I get to choose if I want to go right or left. I can never decide because both are perfect with no one out, and then I do the same thing in the evening! There is no words to describe it. I love how everything is connected with nature.”
Multilingual Fierro said: “I speak Tahitian, French, English, and Spanish because my dad is half American/Mexican and my mom is Tahitian.”
A talented dancer, she said, “My mom made sure we speak our language and dance because nowadays, the teenagers don’t speak Tahitian! Dancing is so fun, it’s another kind of surfing for me. You have to dance with grace and I love it, and I think it’s related to my surfing too.”