On the historic Teahupo’o waves in Tahiti, American Caroline Marks surfed to Olympic gold, winning the gold medal match over Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb 10.50-10.33 on Monday. Marks becomes the second American women’s surfing gold medalist, joining her compatriot Carissa Moore, who won the inaugural event in Tokyo.
It was a cat-and-mouse match for the first 10 minutes. Both surfers waited for the opportunity to find the right wave. It started at the 15-minute mark when Marks surfed through the tube, the ideal wave, to perfection. It earned her a 7.50 score.
Her secondary wave earned her a 3.0 score and a total of 10.50 (surfers use their two combined best wave scores). Weston-Webb, who had a 5.83 score on her first wave, needed a 4.68 to overtake for the gold medal. Her final surf consisted of three turns.
Time expired which meant the gold medal came down to the judge’s scoring of Weston-Webb. The second wave only earned Weston-Webb a 4.50. It wasn’t enough to overtake Marks, securing the gold medal for the American.
It capped off an exhilarating day for Marks, who qualified for the final in dramatic fashion.
In the semifinal match, she was trailing against France’s Johanne Defay. She needed to score a seven to tie Defay. Marks found the biggest wave of the semifinal and surfed it to perfection. She showcased her frontside barrel before a successful hammer move on the top crest of the wave (the lip).
Caroline Marks wins GOLD in women’s surfing! This is the second-ever medal in surfing for Team USA. 🏄♀️🥇#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/Ebqd6mwRzs
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 6, 2024
With Marks and Defay tied when time expired, the American won the tiebreaker because she had the best individual score in a heat with seven. That secured Marks’ berth in the gold medal match en route to becoming Olympic champion.
It’s another winning chapter for Marks, who is a phenom in American surfing. She began surfing at seven years old in Melbourne Beach, Fla., before her family moved to San Clemente, Calif. Relocating to a hotspot in surfing intertwined with Marks’ ascendence in the sport.
She is the youngest surfer to qualify for the women’s championship tour and to compete at a World Surf League (WSL) event. After finishing runner up in the 2019 WSL championship tour, Marks earned a spot on the inaugural U.S. Olympic surfing team in Tokyo 2020.
In 2023, a banner year for Marks, where she won three times, culminated with being a WSL Women’s World Tour champion at 21.
Now Marks can add an Olympic gold medal to her resume. It’s redemption for the American prodigy, after just missing the podium in Tokyo.
Marks joins France’s Kauli Vaast, a Tahiti native, who won Olympic gold in the men’s surfing competition. Defay defeated Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy in the women’s bronze medal match. Brazil’s Gabriel Medina, the inaugural Olympic men’s surfing gold medalist, won bronze over Peru’s Alonso Correa.
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(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
