As the surfing competition came to an end at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024, Caroline Marks carried on the “golden tradition” of the United States in women’s surfing by winning the gold medal on Monday, August 5, at Teahupo’o, on the island of Tahiti in French Polynesia.
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Following Carissa Moore’s gold in Tokyo 2020, American surfers won their second consecutive Olympic gold in the women’s final, narrowly defeating Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil. The difference between the 22-year-old Marks’ 10.50 and Weston-Webb’s 10.33 final scores was just 0.17 points.
Prior to that, France’s Johanne Defay defeated Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy in the bronze medal match with a score of 12.66. This was one of the two Olympic surfing medals that the host country would win on Monday, along with fellow countryman Kauli Vaast winning the men’s gold.
The women’s final got underway slowly as Caroline Marks and Weston-Webb bided their time for favorable waves to come from Mother Nature. After thirty minutes of surfing, no surfer had posted a wave higher than 1.0. Marks executed a flawless drop onto a well-defined wave, smoothly fading her turn at the bottom and pulling up into a spotless barrel.
Although it wasn’t the longest or deepest barrel of the day, Caroline Marks pulled a perfect 7.50 out of it. In response, Weston-Webb rode a tube of her own into powerful rail turns, albeit on a lesser wave. The score was 5.83.
Caroline marks
The narrative became more complex when Marks scored a 3.00, which she intended to lower, instead of a high second score. She fell into another large barrel in the last minutes, but was wiped out and nicked by the lip, which allowed Weston-Webb to enter in the last ninety seconds. When a small wave appeared, Weston-Webb seized the opportunity, winning gold with just a 4.68.
She finished right before the horn blew, gouging many turns and tearing up the wave with her rail game. When the judge announced the result, Marks celebrated by raising her hands in the air.
Surfing: podium for women
Gold USA’s Caroline Marks
Silver Bronze, Tatiana Weston-Webb
(BRA) Defay Johanne (FRA)