Caroline Marks (born February 14, 2002) is an American professional surfer. She is the

2023 World Surf League The 2023 World Surf League was the 46th season of all iterations of the World Surf League, tour circuit for professional surfers. Billabong Pipe Masters will be the first round of the tour. For the third time, the season will end at Trestles (s ...

Women's World Tour Champion and an Olympic gold medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She has won multiple national championships and is the youngest woman to compete in a World Surf League event. Marks is the youngest surfer to qualify for the women's Championship Tour. She competed in the elite (top 16) of the

World Surf League The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfing, surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The WSL was originally known as International Professional Surfing ( ...

and ended 2018 season in 7th place, earning Rookie of the Year. She lives in

San Clemente, California San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement" ) is a coastal city in southern Orange County, California, United States. It was named in 1925 after the Spanish colonial island (which was named after a Pope from the first century). Located in the ...

. In 2019, Marks qualified as one of the two women on the United States' first surfing team to compete at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, Japan. At the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

, she won the gold medal in the women's shortboard event.

Early life

Marks' mother and grandmother were raised in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Marks' mother later moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and gave birth to Marks in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. She is the third of six children.Graham, Pat (July 10, 2021)
"High-Water Marks: Teen Surfer Rides Memorable Wave to Tokyo"
'' U.S. News & World Report''. Retrieved July 12, 2021. The house she grew up in had a large backyard with a motorbike-track, halfpipe, and a surf break across the street. She discovered her love of sports through barrel racing and began surfing competitively when she was 8 years old.Yap, Audrey Cleo (July 24, 2018)
"Teenage professional surfer Caroline Marks comfortable with unconventional life"
''

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

''. Retrieved August 14, 2018. Marks and her siblings have all supported and encouraged each other in their individual passions. When her older brother Zach was 12, he created the social media site Grom Social for kids, and Marks helped create images and characters for the site. She continues to post on the site as herself, updating users on her adventures and accomplishments. Likewise, her brother, other siblings and the rest of her family have been a constant presence at her competitions, cheering her on, giving her pointers and shouldering her when she takes home a win. Marks attributes her success and how good she is to her brothers and her roots of trying to impress them when she was growing up.

Career

2018

In 2018, her first year on tour, Marks had three third-place finishes in 10 events. She was named Rookie of the Year and finished the season ranked seventh in the world.

2019

In April 2019, at the first event of the WSL Championship tour, Marks defeated then seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore at the Australian's home break of Duranbah, New South Wales in the quarter-finals of the

Boost Mobile DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the List of mobile network operators in the United States, fourth largest wirele ...

Pro Gold Coast. She then continued through the semi-finals, beating Malia Manuel. In the finals, she defeated three-time world champion Carissa Moore to claim her first WSL event title, beginning the 2019 season as the world's top-ranked female surfer. She is the first surfer to receive Team USA's Best of April Award, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of prospective Team USA Olympic athletes. “Caroline is one of those rare athletes that from when she was 12 years old it was obvious that she was going to be world champion,” said USA Surfing head coach Chris Stone. “Not if, but when. To see what she's doing at 17 years old must be frightening to all her competitors. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her.”

2019 World Championship Tour

In December 2019, she finished second on the WSL Championship tour to Carissa Moore. By finishing second, Marks earned a spot on the team for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, along with Moore.

2021

Marks tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in advance of a World Surf League competition in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in early 2021 and later found out it was a

false positive A false positive is an error in binary classification in which a test result incorrectly indicates the presence of a condition (such as a disease when the disease is not present), while a false negative is the opposite error, where the test resu ...

, which nullified her fears of not being able to compete.Carroll, Nick (April 13, 2021)
"Going Vertical: The women are owning it right now"
'' Surfline''. Retrieved July 12, 2021.Ryan, Maggie (July 9, 2021)
"False Positives, Historical Wins, and Finishing High School: Caroline Marks's Road to Tokyo"
''

Yahoo Sports Yahoo! Sports is a sports news website launched by Yahoo! on December 8, 1997. It receives a majority of its information from Stats Perform. It employs numerous writers, and has team pages for teams in almost every North American major sport. ...

''. Retrieved July 12, 2021.

2020 Summer Olympics

Marks was the youngest surfer to qualify for the

postponed to July and August 2021 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

.Bricker, Tierney (July 10, 2021)
"Meet the 6 Surfers Set to Make Waves at the 2020 Olympics"
''

E! Online E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable television network. It is owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies. ...

''. Retrieved July 12, 2021. In round one of shortboard competition, Marks scored a total of 13.40 points, won her heat, and advanced directly to round three of competition.Gibbs, Simon (July 25, 2021)
"USA duo Marks and Moore advance to Round 3 of women's surfing competition"
''

NBC Olympics ''NBC Olympics'' is the commercial name for the NBC Sports-produced broadcasts of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as shown in the United States on NBCUniversal platforms. They include the NBC broadcast network and many of the company's cabl ...

''. Retrieved July 25, 2021. In the third round of competition, a head-to head elimination round where two surfers competed in each heat and only the highest scoring surfer advanced to the quarterfinals, Marks won her heat against Mahina Maeda with a score of 15.33 and advanced to the quarterfinals of competition.Lutz, Tom (July 25, 2021)
"Olympics 2020 day three: Kristian Blummenfelt wins men's triathlon ahead of Alex Yee, swimming, gymnastics and more - live!"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Retrieved July 25, 2021."Caroline Marks Advances to Surfing Quarterfinals"
''

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...

''. July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021. Her score of 15.33 was the highest score of all the competitors, male or female, in the third round of competition for all surfing events at the 2020 Olympics."Caroline Marks puts up highest score in Round 3"
''

KTVZ KTVZ (channel 21) is a television station in Bend, Oregon, United States, serving Central Oregon as an affiliate of NBC and The CW. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alongside low-power, Class A dual Fox/Telemundo affiliate ...

''. July 25, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.Walters, Tim (July 26, 2021)
"Caroline Marks easily wins Round 3 surfing heat to advance at Olympics"
''

Florida Today ''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at ''USA Toda ...

''. Retrieved July 26, 2021. In the quarterfinals, Marks won her head-to-head heat against Brisa Hennessy with a score of 12.50 points and qualified for the semifinals.Urban, Mychael (July 26, 2021)
"U.S. teen Caroline Marks, teammate Carissa Moore surf into semis"
''

''. Retrieved July 26, 2021. Marks did not advance to the final heat after her semifinal match against Bianca Buitendag, and instead advanced to the heat determining the winner of the bronze medal."Surfing-Japan's Igarashi to take on Ferreira for first surfing gold"
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''. July 26, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2021. In her final match against Amuro Tsuzuki, Tsuzuki won the bronze medal and Marks ended the competition ranked fourth overall."Melbourne Beach native, Olympic surfer Caroline Marks finishes fourth"
''

''. July 27, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.

2022

In February 2022, Marks withdrew before the second event of the season and took time away from tour "to deal with some recurring medical and health issues." She missed half the season and did not qualify for the WSL Finals.

2023

2024

Won Gold during the 2024 Paris Olympics in Teahupo'o Reef Pass,

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

for

Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

Career victories

Junior event wins

* 2015 US Open Jr. Champion * 2016 ISA Girls World Champion (U16) * 2016 US Open Jr. Champion

Open event wins

* 2015 Volcom World VQS Champion * 2x Open Women's NSSA Champion * 6x Surfing America Champion * 2x Open Girls NSSA Champion

Personal life

Marks has a

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel she started February 23, 2021 where she uploads videos related to her surfing.Marks, Caroline
"Caroline Marks - About"
''

''. Retrieved July 10, 2021. Her first video featured her surfing with Lakey Peterson.Marks, Caroline (February 25, 2021)
"PRACTICE HEATS AND FREE SURFS WITH LAKEY PETERSON"
''

''. Retrieved July 10, 2021. Marks is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and an advocate for body image positivity in women aiming to reduce the sexualization of women's bodies when they are still going through

puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles i ...

.Azzi, Alex (June 16, 2021)
"How surfer Caroline Marks learned to love her body"
''

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

''. Retrieved July 12, 2021.Gurry, Lili (June 16, 2021)
"Podcast: U.S. surfer Caroline Marks advocates for body positivity"
''

''. Retrieved July 12, 2021.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Caroline 2002 births Living people American surfers Sportspeople from Boca Raton, Florida People from Melbourne Beach, Florida Sportspeople from Brevard County, Florida Surfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics American female surfers Surfers at the 2024 Summer Olympics American people of Greek descent Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in surfing American feminists 21st-century American sportswomen