Carissa Moore not ruling out comeback "to show my daughter that world" after surfing at Paris 2024 while pregnant
The Olympic gold medallist from Tokyo 2020 in 2021 and five-time world champion discovered she was pregnant with her first child a few weeks before she competed at Teahupo'o, calling the experience "beautiful".
Surfing
Competing on one of the world's most challenging waves at the Olympic Games while pregnant is a feat few surfers would dare to try, but Carissa Moore has never been one to shy away from exploring unchartered territory.
The five-time world champion, and Olympic gold medallist from Tokyo 2020 in 2021, competed on Teahupo'o in Tahiti at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 while more than three-months pregnant. She finished fifth in the women's event and is not ruling out returning to top level competition after the February due date.
“That’s an unknown right now," Moore told The Inertia. "But knowing how competitive I am and how much I like a challenge, I think it’d be fun to do a couple of wildcard events at some point and see how that feels. I’m going to give myself some time to heal and recover and get back to surfing the way that I want to surf. I don’t know what that’s going to look like, but for sure the door is not closed on competing."
The USA surfer found out in mid-June that she and her husband Luke Untermann were expecting their first child and was about 10 and a half weeks into her pregnancy during Paris 2024. Rather than panicking about what this meant for her prospects of defending the Olympic title, Moore took her new situation in stride.
“I thought it was going to take us a while to get pregnant, just with the stress and travel and all this stuff that I go through," she said. "I didn’t know if it was going to all line up. When it did, I realised how fortunate I was for it to happen at that time. It was beautiful to have this other thing to transition out of the Olympics to look forward to.”
While Teahupo’o is considered to be one of the most dangerous waves in the world, Moore did not modify her training or approach to competition after discovering that she was pregnant. She had talked to her doctor beforehand and was assured that it was safe to surf.
What was more difficult was dealing with the side effects that the champion surfer experienced in the first trimester.
“The hardest part was the nausea and fatigue," Moore said. "I didn’t really feel myself, but I was like, 'Hey, this is just an obstacle that I’m going to have to face and I’m going to have to get it done.’ I definitely went out and gave it my best every day."
Baby in tow and life post-Paris 2024
Moore has kept busy since returning from Tahiti in August. She has worked on a feature-length documentary about self-love, due to be released next year, and is also putting more time into her charity, Moore Aloha, which helps to empower young girls.
Now six months pregnant, Moore still goes out to surf four to five times per week, albeit with a new mentality.
“I’ve really had to adjust my mindset. I’m not out there creating content. I’m not out there trying to push my turns and get better at a maneuver. I’m just going out there for the pure stoke and joy of it because it makes me feel good. And that’s beautiful," she said. "I’m so grateful that I’ve had this opportunity to fall in love with surfing in a whole new way. But it’s also uncomfortable for me because I’ve been a competitive surfer for so long and I’ve always looked at it one way.”
A return to the top circuit? Moore says ‘maybe’
Moore stepped away from the WSL Championship Tour in February 2024 after 13 years and five titles on the circuit, saying she wanted to focus on preparing for the Olympic Games.
She announced her pregnancy shortly after competing at Teahupo'o, though her competitive schedule did not end there. Moore also competed at the Maldives Surfing Championships Trophy a month later, then four months pregnant.
The competitive fire still burns strong for Moore and while her focus is now on giving birth and settling into her new role as a mother, she is not ruling out returning to the Championship Tour in the future.
“I do feel really satisfied with what I have done in that realm, but the whole idea of being a mom in that space and getting to travel with my family and show my daughter the world that I got to be a part of would be so cool,” Moore said.
“It always seemed that once surfers became mothers that was the end of their professional career and that really freaked me out. I felt like you had to choose one or the other. But it’s been cool to see more and more women in sports changing that narrative. I know my priorities are going to change, but I still have a deep love for surfing and performing at a high level. I don’t know if I could balance and do it all, but I’d like to try.”
With the next Olympic surfing competition taking place on home waves, at Los Angeles 2028, the temptation for one of the greatest female surfers of all time to return to competition – now with an extra special supporter cheering her on – might just prove too hard to resist.