By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk
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.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
