Shortboard, Women

The women’s competition provided some surprises when all was said and done. Heading in, it was generally considered that four time world champion, Hawaiian-born Carissa Moore of the United States, was going to be hard to beat. Her main challenger was expected to be fellow American, Caroline Marks, a young phenom, who at the age of 15 in 2017 became the youngest surfer to qualify for the Women’s Championship Tour, and currently sat in sixth place in the World Surf League’s rankings. Australia was also expected to mount a medal challenge with sentimental favourite, Stephanie Gilmore, seven-time world champion, and another veteran, Sally Fitzgibbons, who earlier in her career had been runner up three years in succession for the world title, and more recently had claimed victory at the 2021 International Surfing Association’s World Surfing Games.

As the competition unfolded, two relatively unheralded surfers began to emerge as medal contenders. One was Bianca Buitendag of South Africa, who in recent years had seen her World Surf League ranking slip to 44th, but who qualified for the Olympics with her strong performance at the 2019 International Surfing Association’s World Surfing Games. The other was the host country’s Amuro Tsuzuki, winner of the World Surf League’s Junior Championship in 2019. In Round 3, Buitendag took down veteran Stephanie Gilmore, and after advancing through the quarterfinals, defeated another of the favourites, Caroline Marks, in the semifinals to advance to the gold medal match, assuring South Africa of a silver medal. For her part, Tsuzuki sailed into the quarterfinals where she faced Australia’s Fitzgibbons, a formidable opponent. After emerging victorious, her next challenge was the top favourite, Carissa Moore, who she lost to by a narrow margin, ending her gold medal hopes. Her Olympics did end on a happy note, though, as she defeated the American, Marks, for the bronze medal. Meanwhile, in the gold medal match, between Moore and the surprising Buitendag, the American, as expected, won in relatively comfortable fashion, affirming her status as the current premier female surfer.