{"id":2679521,"date":"2024-08-23T15:23:20","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T21:23:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/?p=2679521"},"modified":"2024-08-23T15:34:13","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T21:34:13","slug":"caroline-marks-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/water-activities\/caroline-marks-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"How Surfer Caroline Marks Conquered Her Fears and Won Olympic Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

A whirlwind of emotion\u2014that\u2019s the best way to describe the last two weeks for American surfer Caroline Marks.\u00a0On August 5, Marks, 22, won the Olympic<\/a> gold medal on Tahiti’s formidable Teahupo\u2019o wave. Six days later, Marks was in Paris for the Games\u2019 closing ceremony. Then, she made a quick trip to New York City for a 24-hour media blitz, before flying back to the South Pacific for the Fiji Pro, the final round of the World Surf League\u2019s regular season.<\/p>\n

Poor waves in Fiji earlier this week gave Marks and the other surfers at the competition 24 hours of rest. \u201cI\u2019m appreciating the chance to regroup,\u201d she told me on a recent phone call. \u201cI\u2019ve just accomplished one of my biggest dreams but it\u2019s time to refocus and carry the crazy momentum into Fiji. There\u2019s still work to be done. I\u2019ll have time to celebrate in the off-season.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marks celebrates her Olympic victory in Tahiti<\/span> (Photo: Ed Sloane \/ POOL \/ AFP) (Photo by ED SLOANE\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The ability to tune out distractions\u2014even the excitement of winning an Olympic gold medal\u2014and to focus on the upcoming competition has helped Marks surge to the pinnacle of competitive surfing. During the Olympics, she attacked Teahupo\u2019o, one of the world\u2019s most dangerous waves, with seamless flow. Marks reezed through the early rounds and easily qualified for the quarterfinals, where the competition stiffened. She defeated multi-time World Champion Tyler Wright of Australia and eventual bronze medalist Johanne Defay of France, before facing off against Tatiana Weston-Webb of Brazil in the finals.<\/p>\n

Both surfers were patient in the finals, waiting ten minutes to find a set they liked. Marks rode a barrel. Weston-Webb answered with a stunning ride of her own. Competitive surfing is judged by a panel of experts who analyze each ride and award a score. The gold-medal round came down to the wire, and in the end Marks won with a score of 10.5 to Weston-Webb\u2019s 10.33.<\/p>\n

I called Oahu-based surf guru Doug Silva, who coaches athletes like Kai Lenny and Seth Moniz, to get his analysis of the finals. Silva said Marks\u2019 combination of rhythm, speed, and flare helped her eke out the win. \u201cShe draws certain lines on most waves consistently and they are speed lines that have pizazz,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019ll do a turn on the top that has a bit of ooh, aah. Tatiana is really good. She has that flare and sparkle 90 percent of the time but Caroline has it 95 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marks burst into tears when the final score was announced. She\u2019s women’s surfing\u2019s second Olympic champion, behind American Carissa Moore who won the inaugural gold medal in 2021 in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

Marks said her recent success sprung from her ability to manage pressure\u2014specifically, she learned to channel it in her favor. \u201cAs an athlete, you face a lot of pressure and high-intensity moments,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned we all have doubts and fears but if you want to win titles you have to get over those mental blocks and believe in yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Caroline Marks rides a massive barrel during the Olympic finals<\/span> (Photo: Ben Thouard\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mastering the psychological side of competitive surfing did not come overnight. Marks actually stepped away from the sport for four months in an attempt to build her confidence. In 2022, she went on hiatus, publicly citing mental and physical health struggles, and missed the first half of the 2022 women\u2019s championship tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to a place where I just wasn\u2019t really having that much fun anymore,\u201d Marks told the Guardian<\/em><\/a> last September. \u201cI just wasn\u2019t that happy. And I just put so much pressure on myself that it just kind of spun me out. When you become super good and super successful at a young age and the expectations are very high, it feels like if you don\u2019t live up to that expectation, anything less than that is a failure in a way, which is so crazy to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

The third of six children, Marks grew up in Melbourne Beach, Florida, chasing her brothers around the waves. As a child, she raced horses in a competitive event called barrel racing, where riders navigate metal barrels. But as a teenager she traded horse barrels for ones in the ocean, and thrived. At 15, Marks became the youngest surfer to reach the Championship Tour, and pundits predicted that she would someday win the world title. She won major events in 2019, and the results boosted her confidence as she prepared for surfing\u2019s Olympic debut.<\/p>\n

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Marks burst onto the international scene when she was still a teenager<\/span> (Photo: Matt Roberts\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But in Tokyo in 2021 she came up just short of a medal and said it took her taking a break from the sport to get over the\u00a0disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI needed time to focus on myself,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t surf for a few months and then I went on a boat trip to the Mentawais. For ten days I had no cell service. I was with friends doing the thing I loved just for me without any pressure. And that\u2019s how I want to feel when I\u2019m competing. Just feel that pure love of surfing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marks said she\u2019s also found comfort in reflecting in a journal. \u201cI write down what I\u2019m grateful for every day,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I remind myself of the hard work I\u2019ve put in.\u201d She said she\u2019s also learned to focus on what she can control: Her nutrition, sleep, training, and the people she surrounds herself with. It helps Marks to not stress over what she can\u2019t control, like the wave conditions or social media comments.<\/p>\n

The new approach worked, and Marks has enjoyed a winning streak over the past season. Last September, she captured her first world title on the World Surf League Championship Tour at Lower Trestles in her new hometown of San Clemente, California. To follow that up with Olympic gold is a triumph worthy of a fairytale.<\/p>\n

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Marks was disappointed with her ride during the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo<\/span> (Photo: YUKI IWAMURA\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The surfing world has taken note of Marks and her rapid rise. \u201cHer journey is pretty inspiring,\u201d says legendary waterman Kai Lenny<\/a>. Lenny spoke to Marks when she was struggling, and said she doubted herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore winning the world title last year she was not in a place where she thought she could win anything,\u201d he added. \u201cWhen I spoke to her she wasn\u2019t even sure she was going to make it back on tour let alone win a gold medal. To go from your darkest point to your highest moment in one-and-a-half years is truly a testament to perseverance. She\u2019s definitely secured herself as one of the greatest female surfers of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Olympic victory has raised Marks\u2019 profile within the surfing world and outside of it\u2014she\u2019s now one of the most visible female surfers on the planet. She credits female surfers including Lisa Andersen, Stephanie Gilmore, and former Olympic gold medalist, Carissa Moore, with paving the way for women of her generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to take on that role for the next generation and push the progression of the sport,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an amazing time to be a female athlete. American women took home more than half of Team U.S.A.\u2019s medals. There are more sponsorship opportunities. Women are getting bigger and better deals.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marks says she learned how to manage pressure and disappointment\u2014and it required a break from competitive surfing<\/span> (Photo: Sean M. Haffey\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She believes the Olympic stage, particularly the recent venue at Teahupo\u2019o, has finally given surfing the respect it deserves among casual audiences. \u201cSurfers deserve professionalism,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s still this Spicoli image around surfers but we train, we have coaches and nutritionists. The world tunes in to watch the Olympics and it has helped people look at us as real athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2028, the Olympics will be held in Marks\u2019 new backyard in Los Angeles. She hopes to have the chance to defend her medal and predicts the talent pool will be stronger than ever as women are presented with more opportunities to compete in waves of consequence, like Teahupo\u2019o and Cloudbreak, the venue for the Fiji Pro and the 2025 World Surf League Finals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe skill level just keeps skyrocketing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really exciting to watch and be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before the 22-year-old American could win gold, she had to conquer issues with confidence and the pressure to perform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124345,"featured_media":2679530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"4f52e1a3d65303bbe031cf0af49d9ed6","footnotes":""},"categories":[2546],"tags":[6926,2876],"byline":[1465],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2679521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-water-activities","tag-paris-olympics","tag-surfing","byline-jen-murphy"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"How Surfer Caroline Marks Conquered Her Fears and Won Olympic Gold","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/water-activities\/caroline-marks-olympics\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/water-activities\/caroline-marks-olympics\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Marks1-150x150.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Marks1.jpg"},"articleSection":"Water Sports","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Fred Dreier"}],"creator":["Fred Dreier"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["paris olympics","surfing"],"dateCreated":"2024-08-23T21:23:20Z","datePublished":"2024-08-23T21:23:20Z","dateModified":"2024-08-23T21:34:13Z"},"rendered":"