Surfing-Olympic champ Moore aims to make it six of the best in WSL finals

LOS ANGELES : Winning the first Olympic gold medal in surfing might have been a high watermark for some, but for Carissa Moore it has done little to dampen her competitive hunger as she aims for a sixth World Surf League title in California this week.

The affable Hawaiian hall-of-famer is never slow to smile or laugh, but beneath it all is a burning desire to be the best in a sport that has become even more visible since making its Olympic debut in Tokyo a year ago.

"I'm definitely competitive, like I want to win - when that horn blows, there's that part of me that wants to play the game hard with all the other women do on tour," the 30-year-old told Reuters in a video interview.

"There's this nice contentment now in what I've achieved and not feeling like I need to need this win, but it's more like, I just really want to win, and I want to perform well."

Her 2021 clean sweep of the WSL title and the Olympic gold medal put her in the public eye like never before.

"I definitely saw an increase in followers and interest on Instagram, (I was) travelling and interacting with people that I never would have thought knew surfing or would watch surfing, and they were like, oh, they knew my name. And I thought that was pretty cool," Moore said.

In the past season women got to compete at Teahupo'o in Tahiti, the beach that will be the venue for the 2024 Olympic competition but previously had been considered too dangerous for female competitors.

"It is definitely a very intimidating wave. It's something that I like you have to see in person, because just seeing it via a TV screen, or a phone screen, or a computer screen just does not do it justice," Moore explained.

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"It's a wonder of the world, how it just comes in over this