While athletes in the Olympic Village are (allegedly) sifting through their food for worms, Peruvian surfer Lucca Mesinas says everything was smooth sailing over in Tahiti … telling TMZ Sports he only had one complaint with their setup!!
We caught up with the Peruvian surfer at LAX this week … not long after he competed in the surfing portion of the 2024 Games. Naturally, we had to ask all about the surfers’ HQ on a luxurious cruise ship in the South Pacific … and it sounds MUCH better than what the folks in Paris have been saying.
“We had good food, we had ping-pong, things to do over there,” Mesinas said. “We were allowed to leave the boat anytime to go to surf. It was pretty fun anyway.”
Many competitors have complained about the conditions in France … groaning over lack of air conditioning, small rooms and lack of bathrooms — with one gold medalist even electing to sleep outside.
Mesinas said his only gripe was that considering they were on a ship, there was a bit of movement going on due to the wind — so not the best for catchin’ Zs.
The surfer did have a good review of the beds on the boat … saying they were also solid. While he didn’t say exactly whether they were like the “anti-sex” beds in Paris — he did claim there weren’t any real romantic hookups on board.
“Maybe one,” he said, laughing.
The ping-pong tournaments — along with watching the Olympics, of course — sounded like a big part of the experience … and Mesinas didn’t hesitate to call the Peruvian team the best on the boat.
“I’m pretty sure we were [the best], the Peruvians,” he said. “As surfers, every time we travel, we play ping-pong all the time. I’m not amazing at it, [but] all the team is pretty good at it.”
Mesinas didn’t earn a spot on the podium … but it’s clear it didn’t take away his experience in the Olympics. The question now is … can L.A. top the experience in 2028?!?
