TOKYO — On Wednesday evening, a day after she had made history, Carissa Moore wore a fake plumeria flower in her hair. Moore’s mother had given it to her before she traveled to the Olympics, a way to stay connected to her home as she traversed the Pacific Ocean. “Right now, the plumeria trees are going off in Hawaii,” Moore said. “The air is so sweet.”
It was sweet for Moore here, too. On Tuesday, Moore won the first surfing gold medal in the history of the Olympics. She employed her signature “power surfing,” as she calls it, to counteract the gnarly conditions at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach, provided by a passing typhoon that worried the locals but delighted the surfers. Moore overcame moments of self-doubt, she said, before her final run, both muscular and graceful, made her the first Olympic surfing champion.
“Just the scale of this event felt so much bigger,” Moore said. “Getting to share the sport with so many people that maybe have never even watched surfing before was super special, and I felt that.”
On Wednesday, Moore walked into a small room at Tokyo Big Sight convention center wearing a white Team USA sweatsuit and the plumeria in her hair.
“Mahalo,” she said, thanking the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee for pulling off the Games. “I’m honored to represent the United States of America and my home, Hawaii.”
In surfing, those two are not quite the same. When she surfs in international tournaments, Moore wears the Hawaiian flag on her sleeve. Out of deference to Hawaii’s status as the birthplace of surfing and recognition of its independence before it became a U.S. state, the World Surf League recognizes Hawaii as its own sovereign entity. In those events, Moore chooses to compete under her native banner.
“But at the Olympics, I’m here representing the United States of America,” Moore said. “I’m so proud. It’s just different rules and different things. I still feel like I was able to represent both. I wear Hawaii proudly in my heart, hopefully with the way I present myself every day. It’s been an honor to represent both.”
When new sports debut at the Olympics, the discussion centers on what the Games can do for the sport. Moore shed light on what surfing brings to the Games. At a structured and staid spectacle, surfing injected the randomness and beauty of nature. When the typhoon rolled past the eastern side of the island, it provided four-foot waves and unpredictable surf.
“We were stoked,” Moore said. “We had more waves than we thought. But it also came with wind, randomness. It was very unorganized. There was a lot of water moving, rip currents and stuff. But there was a lot of ups and downs. It was a bit of a roller-coaster ride.”
“When you take the time to really understand how the sport works, it’s really fun,” Moore added. “The element of mother nature is such a cool factor. It adds so much spontaneity. You can be the best in the sport, but you’re at the whim of the ocean. It just keeps it super exciting all the way to the end.”
As Moore advanced to the final, she fought the doubts that often come during her biggest events.
“Just imagine looking out into the mess, and it looks like a total mess,” Moore said. “White caps. There’s current. It was crazy. I was able to figure out where I wanted to paddle out. I tried to simplify as much as we could. It was like, ‘Just go out and hunt this area, and just keep giving yourself opportunities.’ The more opportunities you have to surf, the better chance you have. And something will stick.”
Moore will have a chance to defend her gold, the lack of beaches in Paris notwithstanding. Surfing will be held as an Olympic sport again in 2024, just not at the Olympics: The competition will take place during the Games but in Tahiti, some 10,000 miles away from France. Surfing is not yet a permanent part of the program, but Moore would like it to be.
“Honestly, I don’t know what it takes to be a core sport,” Moore said. “But I feel like we’re pretty hardcore.”
At that line, Moore bounced in her chair and chuckled.
Moore usually travels to competitions with her husband and father. Because of travel restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic, she did not have their support in person, but she made sure to think of them often.
“I was overwhelmed with emotion when I was announced the gold medal winner,” Moore said. “There’s just so much that has happened leading up to this event. One of the factors to that was not having my family and friends here.”
By the end, she felt like she had a whole other family. When she returned to the house where the Team USA surfers were staying in Japan after her drug test and news conference, Moore saw the balloons her teammates had hung up. Caroline Marks, who narrowly missed a bronze medal, poured a bottle of champagne on her. The entire team shared dinner and whiskey shots.
The celebration will continue back in Hawaii. When her mother described a raucous airport welcome, Moore requested a mellow family dinner. For Saturday, though, she envisioned a barbecue on the beach with the entire community. Surrounded by the people she loves, she could look out into ocean, at all the mysterious beauty it contains. She could inhale the air that smells like home.
