This week all eyes will be on Teahupo’o as it hosts the world’s best surfers. Many islanders welcome the new infrastructure brought by the 2024 Paris Games, but are concerned that any benefits will be undone by longer-term damage
Photographs by Atea Lee Chip Sao
Peva Levy, often called the “godfather” of Teahupo’o, has witnessed his home town change from remote fishing village to surfing mecca in a matter of decades. Levy was a child of the ocean. He grew up swimming and fishing and was one of the first to bodysurf the “secret” wave beyond the reef, a dangerously thrilling, near-perfect barrel known only to local people. Levy couldn’t have known that the wave would one day attract the world’s leading surfers and, eventually, the Olympic Games.
“When someone says ‘Teahupo’o’ these days, the first thing that everyone thinks of is the wave, because it has become such a mythical spot,” says Levy, in his handbuilt house overlooking the lagoon.
