American Carissa Moore wins first-ever women's Olympic gold in surfing

Rebecca Falconer



Carissa Moore of Team USA surfs during the women's quarter final on day four of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach in Ichinomiya, Chiba, Japan, on Tuesday. Photo: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Team USA's Carissa Moore won gold in the inaugural Olympic women's surfing final, at the Tokyo Games on Tuesday.

Of note: Brazil's Italo Ferreira won the gold medal in the first-ever men's Olympic surfing contest.

The big picture: The surfing finals were brought forward a day due to the threat of Tropical Storm Nepartak, which caused some unpredictable surf.

Moore, a four-time world champion surfer from Hawaii, was touted as a gold-medal favorite ahead of the finals.

The other women's surfing medals went to South Africa's Bianca Buitendag (silver) and Japan's Amuro Tsuzuki (bronze).

In the men's contest, Japan's Kanoa Igarashi won silver and Australia's Owen Wright took the bronze.

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