The Australians will be representing the country at the Olympics’s most exotic location: Tahiti, French Polynesia. Styled by Kaila Matthews. Photographed by Charles Dennington.
For many Olympic athletes this year, Paris 2024 means a parade down the Seine, a summer spent competing at the Stade de France, post-event croissants and champagne. But there are a few brave competitors who will be swapping Montmartre for the lush mountains of Tahiti and the Eiffel Tower for the towering waves of Teahupo’o.
After its addition to the Olympic program at Tokyo 2020, the surfing competition is back as an Olympic sport and this year, the stakes are as high as the 20-foot waves that have made Teahupo’o, a tiny town in Tahiti, French Polynesia, a shrine for surfers. Despite being 15,000 kilometres from Paris, the organisers simply couldn’t resist the stunning barrels on offer in the French territory. And four Australians—two women, two men—will be taking to the water. All of them are on Olympic debut.
The first is Tyler Wright. A two-time world champion, the 30-year-old from Culburra is surfing royalty; her brother Owen Wright won bronze in Japan. Of all the Australian surfers, Wright knows how hard it is to win. “It takes a lot of hard work to be in the position that I am,” she says, “but I don’t take it for granted.” She also knows that while Teahupo’o, with its crystal blue water and perfect waves, is beautiful, its power and shallow reef are also dangerous. “Look, it’s a wave of high consequences,” she says, “there’s no doubt about it.”
Molly Picklum has less experience, but she is no less tenacious. At 21, the Central Coast-born athlete has quickly built a reputation as a powerful, exhilarating surfer with an easy smile and brimming energy. Pickles, as Wright affectionately calls her, is currently in the middle of the best year of her young career with a second place at Hawaii’s famous Pipeline and a win at Sunset Beach on the World Surf League Championship Tour. “I feel like I’m a typical Australian and the culture of surfing is so strong here so I’d be absolutely honoured to [win gold] for Australia,” Picklum says, “it would be the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“I’ve known Pickles for a long time,” Wright says of the pair’s relationship, “I really appreciated watching her grow up over the last few years. I’m really excited to go with her. She’s always pushing limits as well and I think she really gets excited by this stuff. She loves it.”
Picklum agrees. “I feel like I bring out the inner child in [Wright],” she says, “We can have some fun and have a good laugh…We have a space for each other and accept each other for who we are.”
Joining Wright and Picklum is 26-year-old Jack Robinson who, alongside Ethan Ewing, will represent Australia in the men’s contest in Tahiti. Surfing’s golden boy—born in Margaret River, he was called the next Kelly Slater at only 12—Robinson has delivered to become one of the most competitive surfers on the tour. The 2023 winner of the Tahiti Pro at Teahupo’o, he knows the wave and how to perform on it. The biggest difference for him this year? He’ll have his newborn son, Zen, with him. “Just to have him there watching. That’s like the ultimate moment, you know?” he says of a recent win on tour. “That was for him. It’s so cool.”
With strong surfers from the United States, Brazil and the rest of the world, a medal is no guarantee for Australia, but as Picklum says, they are going to give it their all. “Team Australia, we have a really good team and from the bottom of my heart, I’m gonna do absolutely everything I can to win gold.”
STORY BY: CHARLIE CALVER – VOGUE AUSTRALIA
Photographer: Charles Dennington
Stylist: Kaila Matthews
Talent: Tyler Wright, Molly Picklum, Jack Robinson
Hair: Georgia Ramman
Make-up: Gillian Campbell
Producer: Charlotte Rose and Mollie Dixon
Talent direction: Rikki Keene
Props: Nat Turnbull