Before stepping away from surfing, Olympic champion Carissa Moore has a showdown with ‘big, intense, scary’ Teahupo’o

Carissa Moore remembers the first time she surfed Teahupo’o, the barreling wave located off the island of Tahiti.

Carissa Moore remembers the first time she surfed Teahupo’o, the barreling wave located off the island of Tahiti. A recent high school graduate, Moore was short on experience – without the world and Olympic titles she possesses today – but high on curiosity and adrenaline. It didn’t take long, however, for Teahupo’o to live up to its reputation as one of the most fearsome waves on the planet. “I was so out of my league,” recalls Moore, who has surfed the famous break numerous times throughout her career. “I had never surfed a wave like that ever in my life and was scared out of my pants.” Teahupo’o seems like a postcard from French Polynesia, a picture-perfect barrel cocooning surfers as they slice neatly across its face, a mass of foamy swell collapsing behind them. But in the wave’s beauty lies also its danger: anyone who surfs Teahupo’o risks being swallowed up by its steep, thundering wall of water and dragged onto the shallow reef below. “It’s those waves that scare you the most that end up being the best,” Moore tells CNN Sport. “It’s this weird thing – your body and your mind are telling you no, but then you have to tell yourself that these [waves] are good, you have to go. “It’s not a natural thing. The consequences are huge. I mean, if you fall, you could get really hurt. People have had some really horrible wipeouts and injuries from that wave. You have to tell yourself, ‘Hey, I could also get the ride of my life and the thrill of my life at the same time.’”