Carissa Moore Won The First Gold Medal for Surfing

Carissa Moore, a Honolulu native, makes history as the first woman to win a gold medal in Olympic surfing.

Surfing made its debut as an Olympic sport in the 2020 Tokyo games. Carissa Moore from team USA, took home a gold medal for Women Surf after beating South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag on Tuesday.

Competing at the Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, Moore scored 14.93, while Buitendag scored 8.46. The judges evaluated the performance based on a variety of categories.

I am so glad a native Hawaiian won the first gold medal for surfing. Congratulations to Hawaii’s Carissa Moore pic.twitter.com/BOSHw7UywW

— Peace, Love, and Justice for all (@mray2b1) July 29, 2021

HOW BOUT DAT!!! #Hawaii’s Carissa Moore becomes the first women’s surf #Olympics gold medalist with a dominating finals performance – 7.66, 7.33. 4x @wsl Champ, Olympic Gold Medalist, putting together quite simply a legendary career. The gold is coming home to the islands 🤙🏼 https://t.co/tavZB9IXx6

— Alan Hoshida (@AHoshidaSports) July 27, 2021

The athletes had a hard time competing under challenging weather as the surfing competition suffered from a rough climate condition, with the tropical storm Nepartak hitting the coast. Therefore, organizers decided to hold the final round on Tuesday, July 27, the same day as the semifinals.

Well the conditions weren’t perfect, but that’s surfing. The best surfers will turn lemons into lemonade. Carissa Moore is amazing, so happy for her and that she brought home a gold for The US.

I’m glad that Olympic fans got to see my favorite sport as an https://t.co/MkDwzSVp79

— Rob Reyes (@theREALrob22) July 30, 2021

The gold medal win was a huge accomplishment for the Native Hawaiian, and her heritage as Native Hawaiians developed the sport. In addition, Duke Kahanamoku, a swimmer, and surfer, from Hawaii, won two medals in the Olympics. It was on his tours that he also started to introduce surfing to the world.

I was hoping somebody would touch on this. Warms my heart to see a platform of this size touching on the cultural and spiritual significance of Carissa Moore’s gold medal victory and what it means to Kanaka Maoli (Indigenous people’s of Hawaii). Beautiful story ❤️✊🏽 https://t.co/ebBPQVbOaZ

— Jordan Patu (@Jordan_Patu) July 29, 2021

Let’s not underestimate how meaningful Carissa Moore’s win is for Hawaii.

Their own champion wins gold at surfing’s first Olympics.

Completes the 100+ year mission of Duke Kahanamoku whose goal it was to get surfing into the Olympic Games.#TokyoOlympics #tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/GX3ZlkDyRR

— Ren Clayton (@Ren_Clayton) July 27, 2021

The Olympic Games were not the first time Moore impressed the viewers. During an event in April, Moore landed the most significant aerial maneuver of her career, the air reverse. With that performance, she scored 9.9 out of 10.

The Hawaiian surfer was always passionate about the sport. She shared in an interview, “The ocean has changed my life, and I can’t imagine my life without it. So I’ll be surfing until I’m on the ground. Riding a wave makes you feel free. It makes you feel present, and it makes you, I think, feel more in love with the ocean and yourself.”

In 2018, Moore created a non-profit foundation called “Moore Aloha” to encourage young women to pursue their dreams. As stated on the website, “The mission is to encourage young females through the sport of surfing to be strong, confident and compassionate individuals.”

carissa moore is such an icon i love her

— lia (@mushr00mhats) July 30, 2021

Carissa Moore is the four-time Women’s World Tour Champion and top-ranked women’s surfer in the world. With this Olympic victory, Carissa Moore cemented her standing as the best surfer in the world as the first woman to win a gold medal. Also, this is a historic moment for the United States on the waves.

CARISSA MOORE WINS GOLD 🥇

She brings home the first-EVER Olympic gold medal in women’s surfing. #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/ySWdgAUy0C

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 27, 2021