Next year's Olympic surfing competition will be held on Tahiti's Teahupo'o beach as planned, the leader of French Polynesia said, declaring and end to a row between organisers, authorities and environmental groups who opposed the construction of a new judging tower that could threaten coral.
Polynesian leader Moetai Brotherson said that a meeting with environmental associations had yielded "a solution" that would allow the contest to be held at Teahupo'o, with one of the world's most powerful waves.
Debates about the suitability of Tahiti host the competition have made waves for weeks, reaching a high point early this month after a construction barge being used to install a controversial new judges' tower in the sea broke through part of a colourful coral reef during testing.
Critics said it was confirmation that the installation would damage the beach's fragile corals beyond repair.
A petition against the new tower has gathered over 210,000 signatures.
Brotherson on Sunday presented a plan in stages for the new tower to to be completed by 13 May, he said, in time for a World Surf League event seen as a dress rehearsal for the Paris Olympics, whose surfing competitions are scheduled from 27 to 30 July.
During talks with concerned parties, Brotherson had won "unanimous backing from mayors, the surfing federation and even the associations, except one", he said, adding that there was also one individual surfer holding out "who thinks he represents the surfing community".
That surfer, Lorenzo Avvenenti, who was born and raised in Tahiti, said that "the biggest names in surfing" including Kelly Slater, Gabriel Medina, Felipe Toledo and Carissa Moore, had signed the petition against the new tower.
But Brotherson said they had done so "without having the right information".
In mid-November, the organisers and the Polynesian government revised their plans in order for the new tower to be lighter to "limit environmental damage".
The president of the Paris Olympics organising committee, Tony Estanguet, welcomed the backing for the Teahupo'o venue.
He said new tests for the tower's installation would be run by experts with experience duringthe World Surf League competitions, using a new barge and paying special attention, "avoiding damage to the corals".
Tests are to begin this week, and construction work could start by the end of the month, he said.
(AFP)
