On May 16, the new Polynesian government, appointed the day before, visited residents affected by a flood in Teahupo’o, where the surfing event of the Olympic Games in the summer of 2024 is planned, on one of the waves the most powerful in the world. On this occasion, the new Polynesian Minister of Youth and Sports, Nahema Temarii, declared that she was considering the possibility of “revoke this commitment”. Polynesian Housing and Solidarity Minister Minarii Galenon added: “We can very well cancel these Olympics, but we will have very large sums to pay. »
As of Friday, May 19, the new Polynesian president, Moetai Brotherson, nevertheless made a point of specifying that “the option of not doing the Games is very restrictive, and I don’t think it’s the one we’ll choose, it’s not the spirit that drives me”. “I absolutely want these Games to take place here because this is where surfing was born, not elsewhere”, he added, in front of the press, in Papeete.
“There are discussions to be had with the State on the agreement which was passed by the previous government, there is a collective budget which is approaching, where we will have to materialize the commitments. This will be part of the discussions we will have with the State, but the goal is for the Games to take place here”, he asserted. Elected president on May 12, this separatist has often opposed his separatist predecessor, but not on the organization of the Games.
For Barbara Martins-Nio, head of the Tahiti site for the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop), the declarations of the Minister of Sports constituted above all “a political positioning: you had to mark your territory, and that was done in a somewhat brutal way”.
“I recalled the agreements already signed: the State, Paris-2024 and the country [la Polynésie française] have commitments. The country can reduce the sails, by modifying the responsibilities within the commitments already made: there are possible developments compared to those of the former government”, clarified on Friday, Mr.me Martins-Nio. But a withdrawal of the candidacy does not seem to him to be possible.
The floods, followed by rare phenomena, make the population doubt
For some residents of Teahupo’o, the construction of the new footbridge planned for the Olympic Games contributed to the floods which, at the beginning of May, devastated about fifty houses and washed away a dozen cars at sea. “The water level was high, but the palisades compounded the problem by diverting flood water, which caused a torrent in front of our houses,” deplores Kiki Plantier, a 65-year-old retiree who lost all her household appliances in the flood.
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