Carissa Kainani Moore (born August 27, 1992) is an Americansurfer. She was the first-ever winner of the Olympic gold medal in women's shortboard surfing at the2020 Summer Olympics. She is also a five-time world champion, winning in2011,2013,2015,2019 and2021 on the World Surf LeagueWSL Women's World Tour.[2][3] Moore was the first surfer in history to win a WSL world title and the Olympic title in the same year.[4]
In 2013, she was named byGlamour magazine as one of their Women of the Year.[5] She became a member of the Surfers' Hall of Fame in 2014.[6] In 2022, Moore was featured inNaomi Hirahara's anthologyWe Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States that was published by theSmithsonian Institution andRunning Press Kids.[7]
When she was five years old, Moore started surfing with her dad off the beaches ofWaikiki inHonolulu, Hawaii.[8] "Dad taught me how to surf when I was about four or five years old at Waikiki Beach and I was immediately hooked."[9] Her father, Chris, was a competitiveopen waterswimmer who won a number of competitions. He lived closer to the water than Moore's landlocked mother, so Moore chose Hawaii, the ocean, and her father after her parents divorced when she was ten years old. When Moore stayed with her mother and her motivation for surfing would start to wane she would write letters to her father to stay motivated.[8]
She started earning multiple wins atNational Scholastic Surfing Association, NSSA, junior surf competitions at age 11. She also won top spots at theInternational Surfing Association, ISA, World Junior Surfing Championships, where she helped Hawaii win a team victory. In all, she clinched a record 11 NSSA amateur titles, and at age 16 in 2008, she became the youngest champion at a Triple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Reef Hawaiian Pro.[8]
In 2010, Moore qualified to compete on the ASP (now called theWorld Surf League) Championship Tour. She won two major contests, finished third overall, and was named Rookie of the Year.[10][11]
The following season, Moore was a youngster to watch on the World Tour and she lived up to her reputation, winning three events and claiming her first World crown, unseating four-time defending champStephanie Gilmore in the process. At 18, she became the youngest person – male or female – to win a surfing world title.
Moore took top World Tour honors again in 2013 and 2015.[12][13]
Moore has been named an Adventurer of the Year byNational Geographic,[14] a Woman of the Year byGlamour magazine[5][15] and Top Female Surfer in theSURFER magazine poll (numerous times).[16] She was inducted into the Surfers' Hall of Fame, and the State of Hawaii declared January 4 to be Carissa Moore Day.[17]
In the first round of competition, Moore scored an 11.74 and won her heat, which advanced her directly to the third round of competition.[25] Moore won her heat of the third round of competition againstPeruvianSofía Mulánovich with a 10.34 and advanced to the quarterfinals.[26] Moore won her head-to-head competition with a score of 14.26 in the quarterfinals againstBrazilianSilvana Lima and advanced to the semifinals.[27] In the semifinals match between Moore and Japan'sAmuro Tsuzuki, Moore won and advanced to the final heat where surfers compete for the gold and silver medals.[28] In the final match against South AfricanBianca Buitendag, Moore won theOlympicgold medal with a score of 14.93.[29][30] As the 2020 Summer Olympics were the first Olympic Games where surfing was included as a sport, Moore became the first woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in surfing.[31]
Moore competed at the2024 Olympic Games, along with Caroline Marks andCaitlin Simmers representing the United States.[34] She was eliminated in the quarterfinals.[35]
Surfer and shark attack survivorBethany Hamilton wrote in her autobiography that she admired Moore's toughness when they participated in the same competition as seven- to nine-year-olds.[39]
Moore is a 2010 graduate fromPunahou School in Honolulu.[40] She married her high school sweetheart, Luke Untermann, on December 16, 2017.[41]
In 2018, Moore launched Moore Aloha Charitable Foundation, a501(c)(3) organization focused on using surfing as a platform to bring young women together.[42]
In 2008, at the age of 16, Moore became the youngest winner of aTriple Crown of Surfing event when she won the Reef Hawaiian Pro, a 6-Star WQS Prime Event2.[43]
In 2011, Moore received a wildcard entry into the Men'sTriple Crown of Surfing, limited to the Reef Hawaiian Pro atHaleiwa and the Vans Hawaiian Pro atSunset Beach, becoming the first woman in history to be given the honor.[46]
In 2007, Moore reached the Final of theASP Women's World TourRoxy Pro event as a wildcard, becoming the youngest surfer to reach a Final of an ASP World Title Race event. The Roxy Pro wildcard entry was the first Women's World Tour event Moore entered after success in the Roxy Pro Trials.[47]
In 2010, Moore started competing on theASP Women's World Tour. During her first year on the Tour Moore won both the TSB Bank Women's Surf Festival[49][50] and Rip Curl Pro Portugal.[51] Moore's2010 Women's World Tour Ranking was 3rd overall.[52] and she was awarded the ASP Women's World Tour Rookie of the Year.[53]
In 2011, Moore was declared theASP Women's World Champion, the youngest winner of the Title.[54] Throughout the2011 Tour, Moore won the Billabong Rio Pro,[55] Commonwealth Bank Beachley Classic[56] and the Roxy Pro Gold Coast.[57]
In 2012, Moore finished 3rd in the2012 ASP World Tour, failing to win any ASP World Tour events, coming runner-up in two events.
In 2013, Moore won four of the eight ASP World Tour events and became World Champion for the second time in her career.[58][59]
In 2014, Moore won three WSL Women's Championship Tour events.[60]
In 2015, she again won four Events of the WSL Championship Tour and won her third world title.[61]
In 2016, Moore's only victory was the Roxy Pro in Hossegor, France.[62]
In 2019, she won her fourth world championship, winning stops in France and South Africa.[65]
In 2021, she won another world championship, successfully defending her title againstTatiana Weston-Webb in a head-to-head title match at the inauguralWSL Finals.[66]
2005, Moore represented Hawai‘i at theInternational Surfing Association (ISA) World Junior Surfing Championships and was placed 3rd in the Female Junior Final (under 18) category.[74] Moore aided Hawai‘i's first team victory in a World Junior surfing contest.[75]
^Hirahara, Naomi (2022).We are here: 30 inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who have shaped the United States. Illustrated by Illi Ferandez (1st ed.). Philadelphia.ISBN978-0-7624-7965-8.OCLC1284917938.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Hamilton, Bethany; Berk, Sheryl; Bundschuh, Rick.Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. New York,MTV Books, 2004, pp. 41-42.
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