What can’t women do? Like all walks of life, the world of athletics and other sports has seen women breaking gender stereotypes and setting new benchmarks for years. At the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics too, women made it clear that going toe-to-toe with their male counterparts isn’t something that scares them. But it was a rather feminine reason that might have caused defending gold medalist surfer Carissa Moore to lose concentration and crash out of in the quarterfinals of the Olympics this year.

Motherhood is one of the most cherished experiences for women all over the world. On the other hand, there are no qualms for a female athlete to pursue her profession while being pregnant for as long as she wishes to or can manage to. But for the five-time world champ Moore, it was a steep uphill climb.

The delight that helped Carissa Moore get over her Olympic misfortune

The first-ever female surfing Olympic gold medalist appeared for an interview with Surfer recently. In the interview, uploaded on YouTube on September 3, Moore talked about the things that went down (literally) at Tahiti during the surfing events of the 2024 Olympic Games. She also mentioned that competing during her first trimester was something she wasn’t entirely prepared for. Noting that her decision to surf at the quadrennial event was taken after affirming that it wouldn’t impact the baby’s health in any way, the Hawaiian surfer acknowledged, “…so many things that are happening to your body in the first trimester.”

“Like being sick and tired and emotional like just wanting to cry at random moments,” grinned Moore as she said how her Olympics was much more taxing than her first. However, she also revealed that she knew about all the things at stake going into the competition and being pregnant was even something that helped her to overcome the heartbreak of being unable to defend her title in Teahupo’o.

Claiming that the whole situation helped her to get a clear understanding of her own priorities, Moore said, “Yes this sucked and I put everything I had into it. But look at this beautiful next thing that I get to focus my energy on.” Carissa and her husband announced news of their pregnancy via social media on August 22. But she had to go for one last ride before calling it quits.

Love for the sport keeps the surfer coming back for more

Earlier this year, Moore had already confirmed that she would take an indefinite hiatus from competitive surfing. While her fans frantically scratched their heads to understand the reason, given Moore is at the pinnacle of her abilities right now, she also assured that she would compete at the Pipe Pro and the Tahiti Pro. “For anyone watching, yeah, it’s a scary wave and hopefully it inspires other people out there to face their fears,” Moore told USA Today in July. She was also poised to compete at the Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy, which is currently raging on on the other side of the globe. There too, Moore couldn’t make a lot of waves.

She took to Instagram to exclaim how she’s looking at the world from a completely new perspective since becoming pregnant. “I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the swell, all the water moving and my capability to keep up and perform in these conditions being pregnant for the first time. My body, mindset and approach has changed a lot in the last month but the waves were absolutely pumping and I still wanted to give it a go,” wrote Moore in an Instagram post.

With all the thrill atop her surfing board, how do you think Carissa Moore will be able to welcome the incoming bundle of joy to her life? Share your message for the surfing icon with us in the comment section!