“Surfing in the Seine is great, it’s mega, but doing it with the Eiffel Tower behind you is even more special.”
My time is Paris is coming to a close and I have thoroughly enjoyed this month. The City of Light has been electric, throughout, the local population having retreated before the 2024 Olympics began fearing gridlock and general nastiness. Instead, it has been an earthly paradise. Restaurants easy to get into, foie gras flowing like white wine. As the surfing component of the Games got underway some ten-ish days ago, I felt sad that our heroes and heroines were forced to be some 10,000 miles away eating poisson cru in the middle of the Pacific.
Well, things have been rectified at least for bronze medalist Gabriel Medina, who came and dined in proper bistros while getting lightly trolled and gold medalist Kauli Vaast, who made Filipe Toledo’s dreams come true by surfing a man-generated, under knee high wave on the famous river Seine.
The two-time Brazilian champ made news, earlier, when he opined that future Olympic surfing events should be contested in pools, saying, “Every four years, I think the athlete needs to be prepared for this unique moment that is the Olympics and be sure that they will deliver their best!”
The handsome Frenchman, anyhow, had to work for every once of forward momentum but seems to enjoy his time, declaring, “Surfing in the Seine is great, it’s mega, but doing it with the Eiffel Tower behind you is even more special.”
As you know, Paris made a great effort to clean the Seine ahead of the Games and used the famous waters as venue for long distance swimming though three Germans fell ill after their event, one penning, “Vomited 9 times yesterday + diarrhea. Water quality in the Seine is approved.”
Classic German aggression and yet to be seen if the French quickly abandon the river allowing for occupation.
Back to Vaast, though, does his Olympic gold eclipse both Filipe Toledo championships?
Disqus.
