Next year, Tahiti will be home to the surfing competition of the Paris Olympics, almost 10,000 miles away from France. But the region has its own annual games, known as the Heiva.
Drenched in sweat, lungs heaving, Christopher Ravatua looked like any other athlete in the wake of a hard-fought win. But the remains of the contest — the flesh and shells of several hundred freshly husked coconuts, the sugary scent of their juice — reflected, in fact, the singularity of the scene.