Carissa Moore

Carissa Kainani Moore (born August 27, 1992) is a Hawaiian American Olympian, world champion surfer and activist. She was the first-ever winner of the Olympic Gold Medal in women's short board surfing in 2020. She was also the 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2021 World Surf League WSL Women's World Tour Champion. Moore is the first surfer in history to win a WSL world title and the Olympic title in the same year. In 2013, she was named by Glamour magazine as one of their Women of the Year. She became a member of the Surfers' Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2022, Moore was featured in Naomi Hirahara's anthology We Are Here: 30 Inspiring Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Have Shaped the United States that was published by the Smithsonian Institution and Running Press Kids. Early life When she was five years old, Moore started surfing with her dad off the beaches of Waikiki in Honolulu, Hawaii. "Dad taught me how to surf when I was about four or five years old at Waikiki Beach and I was immediately hooked." Her father, Chris, was a competitive open water swimmer 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. She started earning multiple wins at National Scholastic Surfing Association, NSSA, junior surf competitions at age 11. She also won top spots at the International 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.