Daily Times

New Zealand surfer Saffi Vette felt the full wrath of Teahupo’o when injured in a wipe-out in Tahiti, so there was some trepidation on her return to the punishing break last month for a training block in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics.

The 22-year-old was pounded by a wave on day two of a surfing camp last July, suffering a knee injury that put her out of action for three months.

Though having recovered with the help of her physio mum, Vette’s body flashed warning signs days before her nerve-wracking return to Tahiti this year.

“It was funny, about a week out both my knees started hurting again and I hadn’t had that in a while,” she told reporters on a video call on Tuesday.

“And I spoke to my physio and obviously my mum as well and they’re like, ‘Ah, it’s definitely just mental. Like, you’ve been training so hard. There’s no way your knees will be giving out at all, and you’re still young.’ “So it’s funny what your mental state of mind can kind of do to you prior to going back to somewhere that you’ve hurt yourself.”