Native Hawaiians ‘reclaim’ surfing with Moore’s Olympic gold
Carissa Moore wore a white and yellow plumeria pinned next to her ear for her victory-lap interviews after making history as the first Olympic gold medalist at surfing’s historic debut.
Her mother — crowned the Honolulu Lei Queen in 2016 — had given her the flower hair clip before she left for Tokyo to remind the only Native Hawaiian Olympic surfer of where she came from.
At this pinnacle point, Moore is still in disbelief when she’s compared to Duke Kahanamoku, the godfather of modern surfing who is memorialized in Hawaii with a cherished monument.
“I don’t think I’ll have a statue,” Moore said, grinning from ear to ear while her body bobbed into a quiet giggle at the suggestion. “Gosh, there’s only a few people in Hawaii that I think deserve that.”
