Picture surfing in most scenarios and usually you think of beautiful locales with people riding the waves, usually in laid-back or stress-free atmospheres.
But this isn’t any normal scenario on the water. The Olympic surfing competition — located very, very far from the River Seine and the picturesque atmosphere of Paris all the way in gorgeous Teahupo’o in Tahiti — features the top athletes on the planet competing fiercely for the one of the most coveted prizes in the sport.
And sometimes, surfing can prove to be a rough, or even dangerous, sport.
France’s Johanne Defay was surfing on day 1 of competition on Saturday when she fell off her board on her first wave, colliding with the rough coral reef and cutting her head.
Defay required four stitches but returned, donning a helmet, and made it through the rest of the day before qualifying for the round of 16 on Day 2, taking down Australia’s Molly Picklum to lead the entire contingent of French surfers into the knockouts.
“Yesterday on my first wave I had a fall… it just went so big, I went straight into the coral with my head, I had four stitches,” Defay said after qualifying for the round of 16.
“They made me go through the concussion protocols and the results were so-so, so they made me go through them all again this morning… There’s no trauma, so we’re happy.”
So next time you watch surfing, just remember, behind the artistry and athletic ability on the water, it can be a contact sport.
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