Bethany Meilani Hamilton
(born February 8, 1990) is an American surfer. She is known for
surviving a
shark attack in which she lost her left arm, and for
overcoming the serious and debilitating injury to return to surfing.
Early life Hamilton
was born in North Shore, Kauai. Both of her parents were surfers who
moved to Hawaii from the continental United States for the surfing
opportunities. Hamilton was taught how to surf by her parents. Her
surfing abilities progressed very quickly and, while still 4-5 yrs old,
she won first place in the "push and ride" division of a Quicksilver
surfing contest. She entered her first major surfing competition at the
age of 8, the "Rell Sunn Menehune" contest on the island of Oahu at
Makaka, competing in the girls seven to nine longboard, and seven to
nine shortboard, taking first place in both. With dreams of a career as
a surfer, Bethany began competing more seriously at the age of 9. She
won the 1999 Haleiwa Menehune Championships 23rd annual contest. In
February, 2000, she placed 1st in the "11-under girls", 1st in the
"15-under girls," and 2nd in the "12-under girls" division at the
Volcom Puffer Fish contest. She picked up a sponsor, Rip Curl, which
aided her with her plans of becoming a professional surfer. And she
competed in the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) circuit.
Hamilton is also a devout Christian who uses her shark attack
experience in her personal ministry.
Shark attack & recovery On
October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach,
Kauai with friends Alana, Byron and Holt Blanchard. Around 7:30 a.m.,
she was lying sideways on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in
the water, when a 14 ft tiger shark attacked her, ripping her left arm
off just below the shoulder. If the shark had bitten 2 inches further
in, the attack would have been fatal. Bethany had lost 60% of her blood
that morning. Her friends helped paddle her back to shore, and
fashioned a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash around what was left of
her arm before rushing her to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. Her dad was
supposed to have a knee surgery that morning but she took his place in
the operating room.
Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton
was determined to return to surfing. Three weeks after the incident,
she returned to her board and went surfing again. Initially, she
adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker which
made it easier to paddle. She has observed that she has to kick a lot
more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to
surf with one arm, she has again begun surfing competitively. She is
now back to using competitive performance short-boards again.
In
July 2004 Hamilton won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete of the
Year. She was presented with a special courage award at the 2004 Teen
Choice Awards.
In 2005, with one arm, Bethany took 1st place in
the NSSA National Championships, a goal she had been trying to achieve
since before the shark attack. In 2008, she began competing full-time
on the ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS). In her first competition
against many of the world's best women surfers, she came in 3rd.
Since
the attack, Hamilton has appeared on 20/20, Good Morning America,
Inside Edition, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The
Tonight Show, as well as in People, and Time'. In 2004, MTV Books
published Hamilton's book, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family,
and Fighting to Get Back on the Board (ISBN 0-7434-9922-0), which
describes her ordeal.
Heart of a Soul Surfer The
2007 short subject documentary film, Heart of a Soul Surfer was
directed by Becky Baumgartner and is currently appearing in film
festivals around the world. Described as a "faith-based documentary"
(being pushed by faith-based Foundation for a Better Life), the film
portrays the true, coming of age story of Bethany Hamilton. Addressing
Hamilton's courage in the aftermath of the loss of her arm in a tiger
shark attack, the film follows Hamilton's quest for spiritual meaning
and purpose.