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STORY: Here in Tahiti’s Teahupo’o, 2024’s Olympic surfers are gearing up for competition thousands of miles away from Paris.

:: Teahupo'o, Tahiti

:: World Surf League

Home to some of the world’s best waves, Teahupo’o’s signature barrels are unlike any other.

SURF ANNOUNCER: “Energy in the channel is up. The swell has arrived.”

Here’s what makes them so special.

Teahupo'o, which translates as "Pile of Heads" after a gruesome local legend… is a village on Tahiti’s southwestern coast.

It has been the venue for many of surfing’s most exciting contests since it was revealed to the wider world in the 1990s.

:: Sydney, Australia

For Tahitian surfer Vahine Fierro, the sport is a part of the nation’s culture and heritage.

“It's good history. It's a good reminder of how the Olympics are connected to the ocean, to the people, to the little villages.”

:: World Surf League

The biggest waves rise some 32 feet and though not as tall as those in Portugal’s Nazare or Hawaii’s Peahi…

their explosive power and the sheer volume of water sets Teahupo’o apart as a hydrodynamic freak of nature.

That’s thanks to its particular location and the seafloor below.

The mountains of Tahiti’s interior have channels that collect tropical rains and funnel them down to the shoreline.

That river has flowed through Teahupo'o for thousands of years and its freshwater prevents coral from growing in a deep channel it has eroded.

A large trench provides an incredibly close and relatively safe spot for spectator boats while the judges watch from the reef.

Swells travel from thousands of miles away before hitting a steep shelf and heaving upwards and onto the shallow reef.

The slope angle allows the waves to fold over, creating the famous barrels that track the line of the shelf.

Here’s what it looks like up top.

:: May 29, 2024

Fierro dropped into a double overhead wave during a recent competition; surfing here is about battling fear as much as battling an opponent.

More points are scored for being deep inside a barrel, which raises the chance the wave will close out on top of them.

Surfers can adjust speed to stay in the tube by dragging a hand to slow down, or pumping the board to speed up.

During this run, Fierro was enveloped for over two seconds, which is a long time in such an unstable environment.

Surfers often say time slows down in the barrel, and that the noise of the crashing wave falls silent as they experience a sense of awe.

She exited the barrel with a score of 9.33 out of 10, as she was deep in the tube, had good speed and went over the foam ball on her exit.

FIERRO: “It’s the first time in this event that I ever get that good a wave. It’s amazing.”

The Olympic surfing competition will take place at Teahupo’o from July 27 to August 5, with a total of 48 surfers – 24 men and 24 women – from 21 countries.