Gold Medalist Caroline Marks Reveals the Nickname the USA Surf Team Called Themselves in Tahiti (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Caroline Marks (center) celebrates at the 2024 Paris Olympics.Photo:Ben Thouard-Pool/Getty

Ben Thouard-Pool/Getty

Caroline Marks' performance at the2024 Paris Olympicswas a reflection of her team’s name.

While it could be tough to stay calm under pressure when competing on the world’s biggest stage in sports, the 22-year-old professional surferproved to keep her coolin the heat against Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb to win Team USA the gold.

“Everyone was just so stoked,” she recalls. “We were just cruising as a team. It was really fun.”

Caroline Marks surfing during the Paris Olympics.Jerome Brouillet - Pool/Getty

Jerome Brouillet - Pool/Getty

The Florida native, who now lives in California’s San Clemente, broke down their team housing in theTahiti-version of the Olympic Villagein comparison to theaccommodations the rest of the Olympians hadin Paris. “We had the ultimate setup,” Marks says of their space off the Polynesian coast near Teahupo’o.

“It was pretty awesome. We were just hanging as a team basically every single day, all day,” she continues. “We would talk about our intentions for the next day every night at dinner and it just felt so positive. It was really cool to be around that energy.”

For surfers, Marks notes “it’s pretty rare to stay with your other teammates for that long” since surfing is typically an individual sport — so getting to “eat with them, train with them and do everything together” was an aspect of the Olympic experience she “was really trying to enjoy.”

Caroline Marks (right) celebrates at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Tahiti.Ed Sloane/Getty

Ed Sloane/Getty

“Obviously I’m here to medal and I’m here to do my best, but just want to really focus on all the details,” Marks recalls of her mindset amid the Olympic journey. “I don’t want to be so worried about the result that I miss everything in between, so I was trying my best to really be in the moment.”

Marks also leaned on five-time world champion and Olympic gold medalistMoore for her expertise, having topped the podium in Tokyo. “Watching Carissa win in Tokyo was really inspiring to me,” she says of the Hawaii native.

“We’ve been to the Olympics twice now together, which I’m really proud to say — and to have her here with me again… it’s pretty amazing,” Marks continues of Moore, who previously announcedshe’d be stepping back from professional surfingafter the 2024 Olympics. “It was really cool to have her energy.”

Caroline Marks (center) celebrates at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Tahiti.Ed Sloane/Getty

Meanwhile, just because Marks has won Olympic gold doesn’t mean the pressure is over for the athlete. In fact, she’s very much in the middle of competition as the 2024 WSL Championship Tour is resumes on Aug. 20 at Cloudbreak off the shore of Tavarua, Fiji.

“I’m on such a high of winning the gold and I accomplished a lifelong achievement, but I also am like, ‘Okay, I got to compete and throw the jersey on again in a week,’ " says reigning world champ. “I’m just going to carry the confidence over of winning gold into Fiji.”

The WSL Final 5 will be determined at the Fiji event, distinguishing the five men and five women to battle for their respective world titles at Lowers in San Clemente, Calif. The anticipated event takes place Sept. 6 through Sept. 14.

For Marks, she says she’s “hopeful” that’s where she’ll be “defending my title.”

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source: people.com