WHEN Bethany Hamilton was 13 years-of-age she lost her right arm in a shark attack.
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Hamilton, whose left arm was bitten off in a shark attack in 2003, entered the event as a wild card, rated as having little chance of making an impact.
Another Australian, the highly rated Nikki van Dijk, succumbed in the quarter-finals before Hamilton finally fell to the competition’s eventual victor, France’s Johanne Defay, in the semi-finals.
After her surprising finish, she tweeted: “Beyond stoked to finish 3rd in the #FijiPro as the wildcard!”
Bethany Hamilton, 26, was an underdog in the World Surf League’s Fiji Women’s Pro, where she went up against a six-time world champion and the world’s top-ranked female surfer.
She lost 60 percent of her blood in the attack and lost her left arm nearly to the shoulder.
The tale led to a book, a documentary and, in 2011, a feature film, “Soul Surfer”, starring AnnaSophia Robb as Hamilton and Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as her parents.
‘Even after losing my arm I’m still doing everything I hoped I could do.
She lost her left arm, just below the shoulder, and almost died from loss of blood but was back in the water a month later. So far, the only change she made to her surfing style is the addition of a handle on her surfboard, which lets her duck-dive when she’s paddling out to catch the waves.
The Fiji Pro is just the second Championship Tour event she’s competed in since September.
Hamilton says she is in a “unique position” to “encourage young girls to chase their dreams”.
Facing a less than favorable draw, Hamilton put forth one of, if not the best wildcard performance the women’s world tour has ever seen. “I’m a reminder for young girls that you can do it if you set your mind to it”.
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Hamilton married youth minister Adam Dirks in 2013, with the couple having their first child Tobias a year ago.
