U.S. surfer Caroline Marks wins women's gold at Olympics - ESPN

TEAHUPO'O, Tahiti — French Polynesian Kauli Vaast won the gold medal in men's surfing for France while Caroline Marks from the United States won the women's surfing gold medal on Monday at the Paris Olympics in Tahiti.

Cheers and tears erupted from spectators on boats floating near the wave and crowds along the shore as the men's final match ended in the afternoon and the hometown hero pumped his arms into the air in victory.

The women's gold medal match ended about thirty minutes later, with Marks beating Tatiana Weston-Webb from Brazil, who was awarded the silver medal.

For the bronze medals, Gabriel Medina from Brazil and Johanne Defay from France won after beating Alonso Correa from Peru and Brisa Hennessy from Costa Rica, respectively.

All winners of the Paris Olympics surfing competition are first-time Olympic medalists, after defending Olympic women's champion Carissa Moore of the United States — who won at the Tokyo Games, where Olympic surfing debuted — was beaten in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

«Obviously I'm really sad to not be a part of finals day, to get to represent my home and my family one more time, but I'm really grateful,» Moore said after her loss. «I just hope that at the end of the day I can encourage whoever is watching, win or lose, don't be afraid to go into it fearlessly and don't be afraid to fail.»

The final day of the Paris Olympics surfing competition began Monday morning after two days of delays due to unfavorable conditions. In the morning, conditions were smaller than the heavy, barrel-shaped waves Teahupo'o is famed for and that were seen during part of the men's competition the week before. At one point during the competition a whale jumped out of the water while surfers were in the