The United States has won the most gold, silver and bronze medals in the history of the Olympic Summer Games, totalling over 2500 total medals.
As the Olympic Games adds new sports to the competition, it is expected that the USA will continue to be a strong competitor for Olympic medals.
Just the other day someone asked, “Who are the United States’ Olympic Medal Favourites in Surfing?”
The United States is home to some of the best surfers in the world. The Olympic medal favourites in the male surfing event are John John Florence and Kolohe Andino and the Olympic medal favourites in the female surfing event are Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks from the USA.
Although the United States has several top surfers that could have competed for medals, the Olympic surfing events are limited to two surfers from each qualifying country.
USA’s Olympic Medal Favourites: Male Surfing Event
The USA surfers that have qualified for the Olympic Male Surfing Event are considered to be medal favourites.
Based on the past results from the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour, USA’s male surfers have consistently had strong showings over the past 5 years (see table below).
Who are the USA Male Surfers that Qualified for the Olympics?
John John Florence and Kolohe Andino qualified for the Male Surfing event at the Tokyo Olympics by finishing in the top 10 places of the 2019 World Championship Tour.
Florence and Andino are two of USA’s top male surfers.
Check out the table below to review their 2015-2019 World Championship Tour (WCT) finishes.
| Year | John John Florence:WCT Placing | Kolohe Andino:WCT Placing |
| 2015 | 14th | 25th |
| 2016 | 1st | 4th |
| 2017 | 1st | 7th |
| 2018 | Injured | 11th |
| 2019 | 7th | 5th |
John John Florence
John John Florence is one of the best surfers in the world and has won the World Championship Tour twice in the past five years.
Florence grew up in the spotlight and was the youngest surfer in history to compete at the Triple Crown of Surfing, which are three surfing events in Hawaii when he was just 13 years old.
Florence dealt with a major knee injury that kept him out of competition during most of the 2018 season and part of the 2019 season, which was the Olympic qualifying year.
Check out the Video below showcasing Florence’s final push to Olympic qualification
In dramatic fashion, Florence secured his Olympic qualifying spot with a fifth place finish at the Pipe Masters, the final surfing competition of 2019.
Kolohe Andino
Kolohe Andino is a top level surfer from the USA who has finished in the top five places of the WCT Tour twice in the last 5 years.
He qualified for the Olympics as the top American male surfer by finishing 5th on the the 2019 WCT tour.
In the past. Andino has been competing since an early age and won the National Scholastic Surfing Championships multiple times. Andino grew up around professional surfing as his father, Dino Andino was a professional surfer that competed on the World Tour.
Kolohe Andino is considered to be one of the top ten surfers in the world today.
Why isn’t Kelly Slater at the Tokyo Olympics?
If you are surprised that Kelly Slater, the best male surfer of all time and 11 time World Surf Tour champion is not representing the USA at the Olympic games, you are not alone.
At 47 years old, Slater is a living legend and continues to finish near the top of the leaderboard on the WCT.
With only two slots for each country, Slater finished 3rd in Olympic qualifying and narrowly missed out on a trip to the Olympic games.
USA’s Olympic Medal Favourites: Female Surfing Event
The USA surfers that have qualified for the Olympic female Surfing Event are considered to be medal favourites.
Based on the past results from the World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour, USA’s female surfers have consistently had strong showings over the past 5 years (see table below).
Who are the USA Female Surfers that Qualified for the Olympics?
Carissa Moore and Caroline Marks qualified for the Female Surfing event at the Tokyo Olympics by finishing in the top 10 places of the 2019 World Championship Tour.
Moore and Marks are two of USA’s top female surfers and the reigning world champion and runner up on the Women’s World Championship Tour.
Check out the table below to review their 2011-2019 World Championship Tour (WCT) finishes.
| Year | Carissa Moore:WCT Placing | Caroline Marks:WCT Placing |
| 2011 | 1st | not on tour |
| 2012 | 3rd | not on tour |
| 2013 | 1st | not on tour |
| 2014 | 3rd | not on tour |
| 2015 | 1st | not on tour |
| 2016 | 3rd | not on tour |
| 2017 | 5th | not on tour |
| 2018 | 3rd | 7th (rookie of the year) |
| 2019 | 1st | 2nd |
Carissa Moore
Carissa Moore is considered to be one of USA’s medal favourites at the Tokyo Olympics. Moore is one of the best surfers in the world and possibly one of the best American female surfers of all time.
Growing up in Hawaii, Moore was a surfing prodigy at a young age winning multiple NSSA Amateur titles and becoming the youngest champion at a Triple Crown Surfing Event when she was 16 years old.
Continuing on that success throughout her career, Moore won 4 world titles between 2011-2019 and is the current reigning women’s world champion.
At 28 years of age, Moore is one of the most consistent surfers in the world over the last 9 years. Since 2011, she has finished on the podium of the WCT 8 out of 9 times, which shows her unparalleled consistency.
Moore is the top ranked American surfer at the Olympics and has an opportunity to bring home USA’s first Olympic surfing medal.
Caroline Marks
Caroline Marks has been on the Women’s World Championship Tour for two years and realized success early in her career by finishing 2nd in the world in 2019 and securing her qualifying spot for the Olympic Games.
She grew up in Florida and at just 19 years old, will be the youngest surfer representing the USA at the Tokyo Olympics.
Marks received the Rookie of the Year award for finishing 7th on the WCT tour in 2018 and continues to impress with her solid performances.
Marks is known for her powerful surfing, confidence and poise which is impressive at such a young age. Watch out for Marks at the Olympics because she may surprise people.
In Conclusion: USA’s First Olympic Surfing Medal
With top level surfers representing the USA in both the male and female Olympic surfing events, there is a high likelihood that they will come home with the United States first Olympic medal in surfing.
If you want to read more about surfing and the Olympics, click on the link to check out my post below.
Olympic Surfing: How to Watch? Which Surfers Qualified?
Go surfing, have fun, repeat!
