Caroline Marks is fresh off keeping the women's surfing Olympic title within Team USA, winning the gold medal in Teahupo'o, Tahiti on Aug. 5. in thrilling fashion. She put on a show all tournament long, dominating some heats and claiming come-from-behind victories in others. Just a few days after her win, NBCOlympics.com's Kyle Frankel spoke to Caroline to hear about all about her experience in French Polynesia. The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.  

To start off, you're still very early in your career, but you’re already super accomplished in surfing being a world champion. You just won a gold medal and became an Olympic champion representing your country; how does this compare to all your other accolades?

My biggest dreams and goals of surfing were to become world champion and a gold medalist, and to accomplish both of those things at 22 is pretty wild to say out loud.  And I’m really grateful to able to say that. It's definitely just kind of crazy. It feels really surreal. I'm just really trying to enjoy every single moment and really soak it all in. And the thing about surfing to me is that I do it because I love it so much, and the fact that I get to do it as my career is such a bonus and something I'm so grateful for and so proud to say. Winning a world title and the gold medal were both things that I was thinking, “Oh my gosh. That's everything you can accomplish.” Winning the gold medal and just having my whole country behind me, it's something that I've never felt before. It was a pretty surreal moment and to share that experience with my family and all my friends, they were able to be there this time, which made it so much more special. So definitely it was probably the top moment in my career. It's hard to put into words how I feel. I'm still soaking it all in. I don't think it's really quite hit me yet, but I feel like I'm living on a cloud right now. It's pretty cool.

You competed in Tokyo under very different circumstances, both in terms of the COVID restrictions, and that you were actually in the host city compared to surfing having its own Olympic venue in Tahiti. Having said that, how did your experience in Tokyo compare to this time around?

I feel like my experience in Tahiti was super different from Tokyo. With the venue itself, Tokyo was a beach break and Teahupo’o is obviously one of the most intense, heaviest waves in the world. So as far as the wave and the conditions it was the polar opposite. It was also my first Olympics. To be honest, going into Tokyo I didn't really know what to expect. I didn't watch the Olympics too much growing up, just because I was so obsessed with surfing and surfing was never in the Olympics. Now I'm so into it, I'm the biggest fan of all these different sports and it's the coolest thing ever. But overall, my experience in Tahiti was so cool and it felt like surfing got a lot of attention this year which was awesome. Obviously, having a venue like Teahupo’o makes it so exciting to watch, so that was really special. Having my family there too was a huge part of it. I'm a big people person and my family is a huge part of where I am today, so to share that experience with them was really special. The whole experience from the day I got there to the day I left, was just so awesome and we all had a really good time, so it was really cool.

Did you approach this Olympics any differently than you did four years ago in Tokyo?

Yeah, Japan was a new venue for me, whereas Tahiti I've been to a lot, and we also compete there on the world tour. We actually had an event there in May just a couple months before, which was cool. It felt like a trial run into the Olympics, which was great because it's one thing to free surf, but practice is a whole other thing. You have a jersey on out there, it’s just you and one other competitor, and you have a clock so you don't have unlimited time, you feel that pressure. Teahupo’o is one of my favorite waves in the world. It's really intimidating, but it's also really exciting. You have that potential to get the wave of your life and it’s got a lot of risk, but a lot of rewards too. The whole experience honestly just felt so different, but it was super cool and I'm actually heading to Paris tonight, so I feel like I'll be able to experience it all. I got to surf one of the best waves in the world and have that experience, and then I also get to go to Paris and experience the village life, so it all worked out the way I wanted and it's all really cool.

As you said Teahupo’o is such a unique wave and the conditions also changed so drastically over the course of the competition. Did you adjust your overall gameplan at all to account for the changing conditions throughout the competition? 

To be honest, even though it's the biggest event ever, I approached it the same I would any event. My preparation was the same as far as trying boards and being out there, learning lineup spots, learning about the wave, talking with my coach and all that felt the same. What’s so unique about our sport is that we are dealing with Mother Nature and that's just kind of how it rolls. We could be on tomorrow or we could be on in three days, you don't really know. Sometimes the forecast predicts one thing and Mother Nature shows something different, so you have to be really good at adapting and going with the flow. For me, I feel like I've really learned how to turn my mind on and off, because obviously you live, breathe, eat winning, and all you're thinking about is a medal; but, I was really trying to go, okay, I just want to live in the moment and just be really grateful to be here and soak up everything, because I'm at the Olympics and this is such a cool experience. Obviously, I'm here to win and represent my country and do the best I can, but I really wanted to focus on all the details to get me there. I didn't want to get lost just focusing on the result. I feel like you really have to learn how to turn your mind on and off because if you're like that too much, sometimes it could be a lot. So, on the off days, it really helped to have my family there and spend time with them and to do other stuff. For example, we went snorkeling for a couple days, so it made the whole trip just super fun. And then when it was contest time, I just locked back in and it felt good. 

Those off days were a super interesting part of the surfing competition this year with all the weather delays. What were those off days like? Was it just rest and recovery or were you training? And what was the dynamic like with all the surfers, was everyone hanging out together or was it more just Team USA spending time together?

Definitely a lot of hangs with the team. Obviously, it's pretty strict on where you can go, with family, so the majority of the time I was hanging out with the team which was so fun. Surfing is such an individual sport and even though there was no team medal or anything, us staying with the other competitors is really unique. The fact that I was able to hang out with Carissa [Moore], Caity [Simmers], John John [Florence] and Griffin [Colapinto], I just thought that was so fun and we had such good vibes. We had a nice gym on the property, so we did some workouts, or if the waves were good we’d go surf. I just base the off days off of how I feel that day and listen to my body to try to do what's best for myself. Then, whenever there was time to go hang out with the family, I would, but I just went with the flow and went off feeling.

You mentioned Carissa and with this maybe being her last competition and your last time competing against her, what were the emotions around that? Does it feel like this figurative passing of the torch from her to you and Caity as the next faces of American surfing?

I was really honored to be there for Carissa’s last event. She's been a huge role model to me and someone that I've always aspired to be like. She's not only an amazing surfer, but she's just such a great human and so that's what I love most about her. Obviously, it was a huge moment for her, and I'm sure she had a lot of emotions, and the fact that I can be there and be around her energy was really cool. I don't know if it's a passing of the torch, we're just in two different phases of life. Caity and I, we're just getting started. We're fresh, we're young, we're just excited and want more and want to win everything. Carissa has done it all, and she has won everything, and now she's moving into a different part of her life. I was just stoked to be around her energy and experience that. We've been to two Olympics now together, so I got to see her win gold the last one, and that was really cool to see. It was a really inspiring moment for me, so the fact that I can do it four years later, while she was there, was really special. She's become a pretty good friend of mine and I’m really proud to say that so yeah, it was a cool moment.

Shifting towards the competition, and specifically the gold medal final against Tatiana [Weston-Webb], she rides that last wave to try to take the lead and everyone knew it was going to be close. When you both were sitting in the water after the heat ended, waiting to hear that score, what was going through your head and what was that whole experience like?

It was definitely a super crazy experience, probably one of the most stressful moments of my life, career and everything, and for my whole family too. I apologized to all of them for putting them through a lot of stress. It was all worth it, though. It was a super crazy moment, and it made things really exciting. I actually got the most emotional after my semifinal with Johanne [Defay], just to win that heat and get into the medal match. In Tokyo, I came up just short of a medal and that was really hard for me and took me a while to get over. The Olympics is every four years, so you just miss out and then think about it for the next three years until you have a chance again. So winning that heat against Johanne and being in the gold medal match, I instantly felt all this emotion and the pressure come off a little bit. Then I was like, okay, reset, it's time to go for the gold. In the heat against Tati, I knew it was going to be a really tough battle. She's really good and that's what you want, that's what makes it so fun and what makes it feel so good when you do win. That was definitely a really stressful moment. I fell on that wave before and I didn't really see everything she did on the wave, so I was thinking, I don't really know what happened, but I tried my hardest, it's not in my hands, and I did everything I could. I'm just really stoked that it worked out in my favor and I feel like I surfed a really good heat. It was probably the best moment of my career, best moment of my life, and it was something I'll never, ever forget, so it was a really surreal moment.

You surfed drastically different heats in the semifinal and final. First getting a score you needed to come from behind and win the semifinal, and then going up early and holding on to win the final. Does your gameplan change at all depending on how the first section of a heat goes?

It's super interesting because with surfing you can have this exact plan with your coach, and then you go out there and the waves do something completely different. That day was a really hard day to compete because it was like a rising swell. We woke up and it was smaller than we thought, and then the competition was on hold for a few more hours. Then they started, and it was still small, but getting bigger and we weren't sure when it was just going to start pumping. So it was tricky thinking about what board to ride, where to sit, how many waves you should ride, how consistent it was going to be, all these things. Then you follow your instinct during the heat. In the final with Tati, I started off really strong, and then was kind of waiting for backup, and I was always ahead the whole heat and I just wanted to make sure I stayed ahead. The waves were pretty slow at the end so that's why I was kind of playing defense, but I didn't have a plan that was like, halfway through the heat, I'm going to start playing defense. You're just relying on Mother Nature, and you really have to follow your instincts and trust your gut, and that's what I was doing. 

Looking ahead to 2028, you’re from Florida but live in California now, what would the opportunity to defend your Olympic title and represent your country back on home soil in Los Angeles mean to you?

To be an American and compete in the U.S. would be so incredible. I'll be 26 at that point and I feel like it's a really good time in your career. I can get so much better from now until then. and that's my goal: to be there. So, gosh, it would just be amazing. The Olympics is the coolest experience ever and so much fun, so I’ll be doing my best to get there. I want to represent my country, give it my all and hopefully bring home another gold medal.