Surfer Caroline Marks Reveals How Tokyo Olympic Result Fueled Paris Gold Medal

The young Olympian finished fourth in the surfing competition three years ago. This year, she took first.

Caroline Marks / Ed Sloane/Getty Images

For Caroline Marks, the Paris Olympics weren’t just another summer games—they were a chance at redemption.

In 2021, the young athlete left the Tokyo Olympics with a fourth place finish. She had narrowly missed the podium, losing out to fellow American Carissa Moore, South African athlete Bianca Buitendag and Japanese contender Amuro Tsuzuki. She had three years to consider the narrow miss—and muster the determination to ensure that it didn’t happen again. That’s just what she did.

“Coming up short [in] Tokyo was really hard for me. It took me a while to get over that,” Marks said on TODAY following her win in Paris. “And the Olympics is every four years, you know, so you got to think about it for the next three years until you have a chance again.”

Caroline Marks / Jerome Brouillet/Getty Images

In the interim between the last games and this one—which took her to the waters of Tahiti in the French Polynesia—she “took some time off,” Marks explained. “I feel like there’s been a lot of personal growth for me since the last Olympics ... I feel like I’m in a really good place mentally and physically.”

Though taking time off and reflecting on her Tokyo performance wasn’t easy, it paid off in the end. “All those moments away make this moment so much more special,” Marks said. Thanks to that decision, she got the redemption she was looking for in Paris. It was the “best day of my life, best moment of my life,” Marks said, “hands down.”