By Steve Drumwright
Carissa Moore pulled out the killer
instinct Tuesday and, because of that, can now call herself an Olympic gold
medalist.
Make that, a historic Olympic gold
medalist.
The 28-year-old Honolulu native
earned the inaugural gold medal in Olympic women’s surfing when she beat South
Africa’s Bianca Buitendag 14.93-8.46 in the gold-medal final at Tsurigasaki
Surfing Beach in Ichinomiya, Japan.
“It’s quite heavy,” she said, showing
off her new medal. “I’m very proud and honored. It’s been a crazy couple of
days, a little bit of a roller coaster of emotions just trying to figure out
the break, find my rhythm, learning how to trust myself without my family here.
“I feel super blessed, super
fortunate. It’s been an incredible experience.”
Moore, a four-time world champion who
will be in a surf-off for a fifth in September, had a decent lead of 10.73-3.43
when she caught another good wave and posted a score of 7.60, leaving Buitendag
in a deep hole with only 13 minutes left in the session.
Afterward, she thanked those who had
supported her on this journey.
“I love you guys so much. I wish you
guys were here,” she said. “I wouldn’t be where I’m today without you guys. I
can’t wait to come home and celebrate.”
With a typhoon approaching Japan,
there was a push to complete the debut Olympic surfing competition as quickly
as possible, with the entire competition being held over three days, Sunday
through Tuesday. The conditions were less than ideal for other sports, but the
midlevel typhoon — the Pacific Ocean version of a hurricane — helped create
better waves for the surfers.
The U.S. nearly earned two medals in
the women’s event, but Japan’s Amuro Tsuzuki beat Caroline Marks 6.80-4.26 for
the bronze medal. Marks, a 19-year-old from Melbourne Beach, Florida, who is
ranked sixth in the world, had fallen to Buitendag 11.00-3.67 in the
semifinals.
Neither of the American men, Kolohe
Andino and John John Florence, made it past the quarterfinals.
The Olympic surfing competition began
with seeding rounds, and then moved into a single-elimination bracket.
To reach the final, Moore won her
first-round heat with a score of 11.74, earning a bye into the third round.
There she eliminated Peru’s Sofia Mulanovich 10.34-9.90, before beating
Brazil’s Silvana Lima 14.26-8.30 in the quarterfinals and Tsuzuki 8.33-7.43 in
the semis.
“Both Amuro and I were struggling to
really find rhythm out there and find good ones,” Moore said of her low-scoring
battle with Tsuzuki. “I felt like I was just getting pounded most of the heat,
trying to make my way back out.”
Marks dominated her first-round heat
with a score of 13.40, then beat Japan’s Mahina Maeda 15.33-7.74 in the third
round and Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy 12.50-6.83 in the quarterfinals. However,
she seemed hesitant in her semifinal loss to Buitendag and was penalized for
interference on a late wave.
“That was really tough, the waves are
really hard,” Marks said after the semifinal loss. “But I’m stoked for Bianca
to be in the final for sure.”
Andino, a San Clemente, California,
native, was second in first-round heat with a score of 10.27, and was drawn
into a third-round showdown with Florence, the Haleiwa, Hawaii, native who was
third in his heat but then won his second-round group.
In the all-American battle, Andino
proved victorious, 14.83-11.60. However, he fell to Japan’s Kanoa Igarashi
12.60-11.00 in the quarterfinals. Igarashi’s father grew up on Tsurigasaki
Beach.
Brazil’s Italo Ferreira won the men’s
gold medal, beating Igarashi 15.14-6.60. Owen Wright of Australia won the men’s
bronze medal.
Want to follow Team USA athletes
during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020? Visit TeamUSA.org/Tokyo2020 to view the
medal table, results and competition schedule.
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