Reigning World Champion Caroline Marks retains Gold Medal for Team USA. Tatiana West wins Silver and Johanne Defay takes home the Bronze Medal.
Caroline Marks (USA) added to her growing list of achievements with the addition of an Olympic Gold Medal to that of ISA World Junior Champion and WSL World Champion. The youngest surfer to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games is also the youngest to ever qualify for the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), or compete in a CT event. At 22-years-old, she is now the youngest woman to win Olympic gold in Surfing.
“It’s really hard to put into words what this feeling is like,” Marks said. “I feel like it hasn’t really hit me yet. I’m just really happy and trying to soak everything in because it’s probably the best day of my life.”
It was a slow build in the women’s Gold Medal Match. The first waves surfed came one after the other at the 11-minute mark, with Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA) falling on take-off and Marks pulling off. Another few minutes passed before Marks found the wave that defined the heat, a 7.50 for a clean barrel. She was unable to pick up more than a 3.00 back-up, however. With two minutes left, Marks used priority, coming very close to coming out of the best barrel of the day. Weston-Webb took off behind with a series of solid turns, putting it all on the line but coming unstuck over dry reef on the finish. Her number arrived as a 4.50, just 0.18 shy of the requirement, leaving Marks as victor, though it took a moment for both surfers to process the number.
“I wasn’t quite sure of the exact score that Tati needed,” Marks continued. “I was just trying to focus on paddling back out and trying to get another score. Nothing came and they were taking a minute to process the score. I was just looking at everyone like, ‘What happened? What happened?’ We both didn’t quite know what each other needed. Once they announced she didn’t get enough I burst into tears, just super emotional. Your whole life goes into a moment like this so it’s just really special.”
It’s the second time Weston-Webb has missed out on a major achievement by a single turn, after a similar moment in the 2022 WSL Finals saw her finish the season as runner-up. That moment took a long time for the 28-year-old to recover from, however she was in good spirits after her Silver Medal finish.
“The world wants me to get second,” Weston-Webb laughed. “But you know what they say, first is the worst, second is the best. I’m just kidding. What an honor to be able to surf at my favourite wave. I got so much time out there, especially in the last few months. What a blessing.”
Defay’s consistent career capped with Olympic Bronze
The strategy for Johanne Defay (FRA) today was clearly to stay busy. Across her two heats, the 30-year-old multiple-time ISA WSG Medalist caught far more waves than her opponents. In the Semifinal, the patient selection of Caroline Marks (USA) paid off, but in the Bronze Medal Match against Brisa Hennessy (CRC) Defay’s aggressive approach saw her build and build towards her first Olympic medal, the bronze.
Defay’s heat strategy stayed constant throughout the event, leading to victory over three of the toughest competitors in the draw in Molly Picklum (AUS), Vahine Fierro (FRA) and Carissa Moore (USA), before the reigning World Champion sent her into the battle for the bronze. The medal highlights an incredibly consistent career for the Reunion Island raised, 10-year CT veteran.
“I’m feeling amazing, a lot of relief,” Defay said. “You watch the other sports on the TV and it just puts everything in perspective. It’s just such a lifetime opportunity. The stress and the [desire] just builds every day and today was the most stressful day in my career I think; to get that medal and to represent France.”
Hennessy’s fourth place finish improves upon a Quarterfinal finish in Tokyo 2020. Despite an unfortunate priority error early in her Semifinal against Tatiana Weston-Webb (BRA), which took the wind out of her sails on Finals Day, Hennessy was able to carry the optimism that she’s known for.
“It was an amazing experience, being able to connect with my country and connect with myself, connect with this place,” Hennessy said. “It’s been life-changing, to be honest. Of course I would want to medal, but what I’ve learned in this journey, the highs and the lows, the wipeouts and the barrels of my life, has been the greatest gift of all.”
ISA President, Fernando Aguerre, said:
“There are plans and there are hopes and there are dreams. We dreamed and we hoped that our plan for surfing in Teahupo’o was going to work out the way we dreamed and the way we planned it. But I’m very, very happy and very satisfied because everything went way above and beyond the plan.
“Thank you Tahiti. Thank you Paris 2024. Thank you IOC. Thank you to the community of Teahupo’o for having us here for these amazing and unforgettable times. We will never forget these couple weeks in Tahiti. It’s been magic, it’s been amazing and it will be in our hearts for the rest of our lives. Merci beaucoup, mauruuru.”
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