Hawaii's Carissa Moore won gold for the women's surfing event in the 2020 Olympics last week, in a first for the Games.
Beating South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag, the 28-year old became the first woman to ever win gold, since surfing was just added to the Olympics this year.
"Huge congratulations to Hawaii’s own Carissa Moore on making history by winning the first-ever gold medal in women’s surfing at the Olympics! You make our state and our country proud," Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said in a July 27 Facebook post.
Following two days of erratic weather patterns due to a passing typhoon, Moore landed her gold medal with rising scores of 3.17, 3.4, 7.33, and ending with a 7.66. Her final score was 14.93, beating Buitendag's 8.46.
“It feels incredible,” Moore said, according to the Star Advertiser. “It’s overwhelming how amazing it feels; I think it’s going to take a few days for it to really sink in what happened.”
A four-time world champion, Moore donated the winnings of her first champion tour event to local Hawaiian communities. She also runs Moore Aloha, a nonprofit where she mentors young girls to pursue their dreams of surfing.
Surfing made its debut in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, alongside 33 other new sporting events.