When Keala Kennelly (43) began to surf professionally at the age of 17, she was one of the few female surfers to make a mark in big-wave surfing.
Carissa Moore has become a “realization of Kahanamoku’s dream” to see surfing debut in the Olympics. That a Native Hawaiian could bring home the gold was a big deal. As Kūhiō Lewis, the president of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, explained, “At times, we’re an invisible people. We’re lumped into other ethnic groups. Our sport is being defined by other groups. This puts it into perspective,”
Heralded as France’s First Lady of Surfing, Justine Dupont (30) is the champion of consistently tackling big waves with raw, devoted focus.