Olympic Surfers Sleep on Cruise Ship in Tahiti, a 1st for the Games

Paris 2024 Olympics - Surfing - Women's Round 1 - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - July 27, 2024. A rainbow is seen near the judging towers. Ben Thouard/Pool via REUTERS
Paris 2024 Olympics - Surfing - Women's Round 1 - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - July 27, 2024. A rainbow is seen near the judging towers. Ben Thouard/Pool via REUTERS
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Olympic Surfers Sleep on Cruise Ship in Tahiti, a 1st for the Games

Paris 2024 Olympics - Surfing - Women's Round 1 - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - July 27, 2024. A rainbow is seen near the judging towers. Ben Thouard/Pool via REUTERS
Paris 2024 Olympics - Surfing - Women's Round 1 - Teahupo'o, Tahiti, French Polynesia - July 27, 2024. A rainbow is seen near the judging towers. Ben Thouard/Pool via REUTERS

Cardboard beds might be Paris' solution to providing athletes a place to sleep for the 2024 Olympics. But some 10,000 miles away in Tahiti, where the surfing competition is taking place, it's a cruise ship.
About 45 minutes from the surfing venue, the Aranui 5 ship is able to accommodate about 230 passengers in over 100 cabins, with eight guest decks, a spa and gym, according to its website. It's anchored just off shore and the surfers, coaches and others take small boats to get back and forth, The Associated Press reported.
“They have a wonderful location for the village, which is on a ship,” French Polynesian President Moetai Brotherson told AP. “It’s unusual, but they seem to like it.”
While media have been restricted from boarding the ship, athletes have shared photos and video on their social media that offer a glimpse into what the Olympics say is the first-ever floating athlete village.
“I think our athlete village in Tahiti is better than the actual one in Paris,” surfer Kanoa Igarashi of Japan said on TikTok, sharing a video tour of the accommodations.
In the video, he shows the amenities on board, including a 24-hour dining hall, fully stocked Olympic gift store and activity center with ping pong and foosball tables.
Matt Scorringe, a coach traveling with the New Zealand surfing team, shared an Instagram video from the ship showing a pool with a statue of the Olympic rings at one end.
On TikTok, German surfer Tim Elter posted the sea view from his cabin, jokingly tapping the bed frame, saying how it's not cardboard like those at the Olympic village for athletes in Paris.
The ship helps alleviate some of the larger-than-usual crowds and need for new buildings that locals and activists said could affect the small town at the end of the road on the small island.
Not all athletes competing in Tahiti are staying on the ship.
Some national teams or individuals have rented houses closer to the waves, sharing photos of boardwalks leading from their back doors to the shore, communal dinners with teammates and lush green lawns lined with palm trees.



Paul Waring's Record 61 Opens Huge Lead in Abu Dhabi

The Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi (WAM)
The Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi (WAM)
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Paul Waring's Record 61 Opens Huge Lead in Abu Dhabi

The Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi (WAM)
The Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi (WAM)

Englishman Paul Waring carded a course-record 61 Friday to open a five-shot lead midway through the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in the United Arab Emirates.

Waring's tap-in birdie at the 18th hole at Yas Links moved him to 19-under-par, the lowest 36-hole score to par in the history of the European tour.

Denmark's Niklas Norgaard (65 on Friday) and Thorbjorn Olesen (67), American Johannes Veerman (67) and first-round leader Tommy Fleetwood (68) of England are tied for second at 14 under, Reuters reported.

Waring, who opened the tour's first playoff event with a 64 on Thursday, posted nine birdies and an eagle at the par-4 sixth hole during a bogey-free performance.

Waring delivered his best shot of the day and secured the lowest round of his career at the par-5 18th. Following a wayward drive and a free drop, he chopped his second shot back to the fairway before launching a 250-yard blast to within 4 feet of the cup.

"That was the best shot I've ever hit in my life, to be honest," Waring said of his fairway wood at No. 18.

Waring, 39, is ranked No. 229 in the world and has just one win on the European tour at the 2018 Nordea Masters.

"Obviously feel great, swinging it great. Putter is behaving," Waring said. "That's I'd say a weak spot for me now and again, but I've done a lot of work on it, and since moving over to Dubai I'm very used to this style of greens as well.

"I've got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me. So, if I'm going to be involved on Sunday afternoon I've still got to keep going the way I am."

Olesen's eventful round Friday included two eagles, four birdies, a double bogey and a bogey. He pitched in at the 18th for his second eagle.

"It was a bit of a battle there on the back nine," Olesen said. "I probably got what I deserved, and that's what golf does. You get some good breaks but then you know you're probably going to get some bad breaks, also."

Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is nine shots behind Waring after a second straight 67 that included a triple-bogey at the par-3 17th.

"I played quite nice up to that point and I feel like I hit a nice shot into 17, just trundled into the bunker," McIlroy said.

"There wasn't a lot of sand where the ball was and I just sort of made a mess of it from there, but bounced back well to birdie the last."