Anatomy of a wave: what makes the Olympic surf break at Teahupo'o unique - and so challenging

As the Olympics get going in earnest this week, not everyone's attention is focused on host city Paris. Surf fans are heading to Tahiti, half a world away in French Polynesia.

Why? Well, apart from the French coast resembling a lake at this time of year, on the south-west coast of Tahiti Iti is a wave unlike any other on the planet: Teahupo'o, which translates somewhat ominously as "place of skulls".

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