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Bethany Hamilton

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Bethany Hamilton
Personal information
BornBethany Meilani Hamilton
(1990-02-08) February 8, 1990 (age 34)
Lihue, Hawaii, United States
ResidenceKauai, Hawaii
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight140 lb (64 kg)
Surfing career
Best year2005
SponsorsRip Curl
Major achievementsESPY Award (2004)
NSSA National Helping Kids Champion (2005)
2nd place, ASP World Junior Championships (2008)
Websitebethanyhamilton.com

Bethany Meilani Hamilton (born February 8, 1990, Lihue, Hawaii) is an American professional surfer. She is known for surviving a shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off, and for overcoming the injury to ultimately return to professional surfing. She wrote about her experience in the 2004 autobiography Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. In April 2011, the feature film Soul Surfer was released, based on the book and additional interviews. She has appeared on many television shows since the loss of her arm.

Surfing career

Placings in surf competitions
Year Event Place Country
1998 Rell Sun Menehune 1st  United States
2002 Open Women's Division of the NSSA 1st  United States
2004 NSSA National Competition 5th  United States
2005 NSSA National Competition 1st  United States
2005 O'Neill Island Girl Junior Pro tournament 1st  United States
2006 NSSA National Championship: 18-and-under Finalist 5th  United States
2006 Hawaii Team Highlights 4th
5th*		  United States
2007 NSSA Regionals 5th  United States
2007 Women's Pipeline Championship 4th  United States
2008 US Open of Surfing – Huntington Beach, California 5th  United States
2008 Roxy Pro Surf Festival – Phillip Island 3rd  Australia
2009 Rio Surf International in Rio de Janeiro 3rd  Brazil
2009 Billabong ASP World Junior Championship 2nd  Australia

*4th at Brazil event, 5th at World Games event in  United States

Shark attack and recovery

On October 31, 2003, at the age of 13, Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai with best friend Alana Blanchard and Alana's father and brother. Around 7:30 a.m., with numerous turtles in the area, she was lying on her surfboard with her left arm dangling in the water, when a 14 to 15 foot tiger shark attacked her,[1] severing her left arm just below the shoulder. The Blanchards helped paddle her back to shore, then Alana's father fashioned a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash and wrapped it around the stump of her arm, before she was rushed to Wilcox Memorial Hospital. By the time she arrived there she had lost over 60% of her blood and was in hypovolaemic shock. Her father, who was scheduled to have knee surgery that morning, was already at the hospital, but she took his place in the operating room. She then spent seven more days in recovery at the hospital. She was interviewed by reporters and witnesses for several days. When she answered questions, she confirmed that she felt normal when she was bitten and did not feel much pain from the bite at the moment of the disaster; but was feeling really numb when she was in the ambulance.

When the news broke out of the shark attack, a family of fishermen led by a man named Ralph Young, presented a clue to the police and investigators. In their family sized canoe/boat they had caught and killed a 15 foot long tiger shark about one mile from the attack site and photographed it. The shark had some bits of surfboard in it's mouth. When the shark's mouth was measured with Hamilton's demolished surfboard, it matched. In late 2004, the police officially confirmed that the shark was the one that bit Bethany Hamilton.

Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to surfing. Less than one month after the incident, she returned to her board.[2] Initially, she adopted a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker than standard and had a handle for her right arm, making it easier to paddle, and she learned to kick more to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, on January 10, 2004, she entered a major competition. She now uses standard competitive performance short-boards.[citation needed]pag sure buh!!


Hamilton's broken bitten surfboard that she was riding during the attack is on display at the California Surf Museum.[3]

Media

Since the attack, she has been a guest on numerous television shows,her manager Roy "dutch" Hofstetter, who went on to produce the film "Soul Surfer", managed Bethany's rise through the media from "shark attack victim" to "inspirational role model". These shows including The Biggest Loser, 20/20, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Today Show and The Tonight Show, as well as in magazines People, Time and American Girl. Additionally, she was the cover story in the premier issue of niNe magazine.[4] In 2004, she won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete[5] and also received the Courage Teen Choice Award.[6]

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. Her story is also told in the 2007 short subject documentary film, Heart of a Soul Surfer, directed by Becky Baumgartner. Described as a "faith-based documentary", the film addresses Hamilton's devout Christianity and the courage and faith in Jesus Christ in the aftermath of the shark attack, and follows her quest for spiritual meaning.[7][8]

On August 7, 2009, she was a contestant on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? and won $25,000. On May 16, 2010, she appeared on an episode of ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

In March 2011, Hamilton did a video for the Christian organization, I Am Second, telling about her struggle after the shark attack and how she trusted in God to get her through it.

On April 8, 2011, a docudrama feature film Soul Surfer, based on her 2004 book, was released. Hamilton is portrayed by AnnaSophia Robb—with Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Craig T. Nelson, Carrie Underwood, Lorraine Nicholson, and Kevin Sorbo also starring in the film. Hamilton performs all the one-armed surfing stunts in the film.[9]

On October 11, 2011, she appeared on the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting, in the episode titled "Duggars Under the Sea", when the Duggar family visited her, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Personal life

In spring 2012, Hamilton met Adam Dirks through mutual friends. They became engaged in April 2013.[10]

References

  1. ^ "About". Bethany's General Biography. BethanyHamilton.com. 2003. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  2. ^ Clark, Mark (September 24, 2011). "Soul Surfer Interview With Bethany Hamilton!". WhatCulture!. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  3. ^ http://surfmuseum.org/surfmuseumexhibits.html
  4. ^ "Shark attack survivor discusses products and jewelry lines in new mag" Lanaly Cabali, The Garden Island, June 30, 2006.
  5. ^ "The 2004 ESPY Awards winners". ESPN. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  6. ^ Silverman, Stephen M. (August 9, 2004). "Lindsay Lohan Top Teen Choice Awards". People. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  7. ^ "Heart of a Soul Surfer". Walking on Water. Retrieved 2007-06-08. {{cite web}}: Text "Carrie Inderwood and AnnaSophia Robb star in the Soul Surfer (the movie dedicated to Bethany Hamilton and her story)" ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Heart of a Soul Surfer: The Bethany Hamilton Movie". Retrieved 2007-06-08.
  9. ^ Pilkington, Maria (September 27, 2011). "Bethany Hamilton (Soul Surfer) Interview". The 405. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  10. ^ Wicks, Krista (2013-05-07). "Surfer Bethany Hamilton Engaged". Retrieved 2013-05-08.

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