Southern Cape surfer Bianca Buitendag won Team South Africa’s second silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.
Surfing out of Vic Bay outside George, Bianca came up against Carissa Moore of the USA in the final which was contested in choppy and unpredictable surfing conditions.
Four-time world champion Moore, from Hawaii, found the waves that counted in the 30 minute final and her two scoring waves of 7.33 and 7.60 gave her a winning points total of 14.93 and the gold medal.
Buitendag could only manage a total of 8.46 but walks away with the silver medal as surfing made its debut at the Olympics.
She’d stunned seven-time world champion Stefanie Gillmore of Australia in the early rounds and booked her place in the final with another notable scalp of American Caroline Marks in the semi-finals.
Earlier on Tuesday, Tuks student Tatjana Schoenmaker won Team SA’s first medal in Tokyo with silver in the 100 m breastroke final behind 17-year-old American Lydia Jacoby.
