Carissa Moore, 92nd Annual AAU Sullivan Award Winner

Sport: Surfing

Hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii

Biography: Carissa became the first surfer and first Hawaiian to receive the honor of top athlete of the year.

Moore is a five-time World Champion and two-time Triple Crown of Surfing champion, but may be best remembered as the first Olympic gold medalist in the women’s short board event at the 2020 Tokyo Games. She was inducted into the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame in 2021.

The Honolulu, Hawaii native grew up surfing in the same bay as the legendary “father of surfing” Duke Kahanamoku. Duke has a history with the AAU himself -- he won the AAU’s first swim race in Hawaii in 1911, shattering the world record in the 100-yard freestyle. He competed in the 1912, 1920, and 1924 Olympic Games for the AAU; at that time, the AAU organization acted as the governing body of U.S. Olympic athletes.

Moore was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in 2014 and is the first surfer in history to win a World Surf League title and Olympic gold medal in the same year.