Kauli: “I'm going to get home and she's going to say, 'Now you have to clean up.'”

Special coverage of Olympic surfing on DUKE is presented by the International Surfing Association, The Island Surf Shop, SurfCycled, Golden Motors, lineup, Swellboards, ALAS, Capi Bar, Quality Surfboards, Ramp 4 Kids y Sixt Rent a Car Peru - Cover photo: ISA/Franco 

Kauli Vaast was extremely friendly with the press after coming out of the water, he greeted everyone who interviewed him one by one by bumping fists, he said that the first thing he wants to do after winning is hug his family, he mentioned his father and brothers but said that his mother is not present because she can't stand the nerves.

“I'm going to give a big hug to my little brother, my sister and my father because my mother never wants to watch my series, she gets very scared and stressed. She does everything she can except look at me, so since this morning she's been doing the garden (laughs), pruning the trees and things like that. So I'm going to get home and she's going to tell me: 'Now you have to clean up,'” he said, laughing and also appearing excited.

“I want to go home and have fun with my family. It was very intense, a lot of emotions, a lot of work and I didn’t sleep much. A lot of emotions and I have my flight tonight to go to Huntington so I don’t know what to do. Maybe I’ll make a decision and go to Paris, but I don’t know,” he added. For now, in the series of the Huntington Beach event still, he climbed in the round of 64 against Hiroto Ohhara and Dimitri Poulous.

Based on the huge change that Italo Ferreira’s life had after his victory at the Olympic Games, he was asked how much he thinks his life will change, he said: “It will change even more because being at home, with perfect waves all the time, we had all kinds of conditions and I think it will change my life even more and also the vision of surfing in the Olympic Games will change and we are happy about that, I am happy.”

Another topic he touched on was the giant wave he surfed 15 days before the Olympics, which many considered a sporting irresponsibility for risking his life. He said: “It proved one thing: We have this great connection with Teahupoo, not just me, all the guys, the locals and we can feel it and I felt it and I said 'OK, if I feel it I'll go' and that's what I did so it worked for me and in this tournament it worked too: I felt it and now I won.”

“We have a great relationship, we call it the ‘mana’ here and the ‘mana’ was present all the time at this moment,” he added.

His first and most general thoughts on his great achievement were: “It’s a dream come true. I can’t believe it. I made history, for me and for all Tahitians, Polynesians and French people. I couldn’t be more proud to represent Tahiti and France on my home turf. I’ve already lost my voice, I screamed as loud as I could. I’m excited, it’s surreal, maybe later I’ll realise it, maybe when I have the medal.”

Asked how Teahupoo will change with this big win, he said: “I hope people around the world realise that we have the best and craziest wave in the world when it’s big and that surfing is part of our culture, part of Polynesia. Surfing was born in Polynesia and I just won, it means a lot to me.”

Finally, he was asked to give a message to the youth, and he said: “If you want it, you can do it. Don’t give up. Try and visualize and when you visualize you dream and when you dream you have goals and when you give it your all, it can happen. So you just have to trust in the process.”

DUKE's presence in Tahiti to cover Olympic surfing is also possible thanks to Xavier Aguirre, Philippe Demarsan, Pepe Gelos, Chifle Perez del Castillo, Juanja Vargas, Mateo Christodulu, Josefina and Tomas Barbe, Monica Ugalde, Pilar Aguerrebere, Edu Fernandez, Wilma Ehni, Guzman Sari, Andres and Amadeo Soler, Luis Vargas and Gonzalo Madrid.