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…
