Olympic champion surfer Carissa Moore wins Sullivan Award

Moore is the first surfer and first native Hawaiian to win the 92nd annual award. She was presented the trophy on Thursday in Honolulu.

FILE PHOTO: Carissa Moore rides a wave during the EDP Cascais Girls Pro surfing event in Cascais, Portugal, on October 5, 2013.  | Photo Credit: AP

Olympic surfing champion Carissa Moore won the AAU James E. Sullivan Award as the United States’s most outstanding Olympic athlete.

Moore is the first surfer and first native Hawaiian to win the 92nd annual award. She was presented the trophy on Thursday in Honolulu.

Moore, a five-time world champion and two-time winner of the Triple Crown of Surfing, became the first Olympic champion in women’s short board at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

She grew up surfing in the same waters as Duke Kahanamoku, the noted “father of surfing.”

Moore was inducted into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame in 2014.

“Carissa Moore is a perfect example of what this award represents — athletic excellence, leadership, character, and sportsmanship,” AAU President J.B. ”Jo” Mirza said.

This year’s other finalists were: softball player Jocelyn Alo, wrestler Jordan Burroughs, baseball player Ivan Melendez and Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.

Moore joins such former honorees as Bobby Jones, Wilma Rudolph, Carl Lewis, Mark Spitz, Jackie Joyner Kersee, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps and Michelle Kwan.