Bethany Hamilton - Revision history

Kathleen.wright5: Category:Famous Christians

2009-11-28T14:05:08Z

Category:Famous Christians

Graham grove at 21:36, 21 July 2008

2008-07-21T21:36:54Z

Graham grove at 21:36, 21 July 2008

2008-07-21T21:36:25Z

Muser at 18:31, 22 January 2008

2008-01-22T18:31:30Z

Vividenblem at 01:17, 22 January 2008

2008-01-22T01:17:42Z

Vividenblem: New page: '''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 d...

2008-01-22T01:15:36Z

New page: '''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 d...

New page

'''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 keen surfers who moved to Hawaii from the continental United States for the surfing opportunities. Hamilton was taught how to surf by her parents when she was 2 or 3 years old. Her surfing abilities progressed very quickly and, while still in grade school, she won first place in the "push and ride" division of a Quicksilver surfing contest. She entered her first major competition at the age of 8, the "Rell Sunn" contest on the island of Oahu at Makaha beach, competing in the girls seven to nine shortboard, and seven to nine longboard, taking first place in both.
Her senior career as a surfer started when she won the 1999 Haleiwa Menehune Championships 23rd annual contest, in February, 2000. In this competition, she placed 1st in the "11-under girls", 1st in the "15-under girls," and 2nd in the "12-under boys" 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.
Hamilton is also a devout Christian who uses her shark attack experience in her personal ministry.

==Shark attack and recovery==
On October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai with friends Alana, Byron and Holt Blanchard. Around 7:10 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. To be exact, it was four inches below her shoulder. If the shark had bitten 2 inches further in, the attack would have been fatal. Her friends helped her paddle 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.

Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to surfing. Just ten weeks after the incident, she returned to her board and went surfing again. 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 harder to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she has again begun surfing competitively.

In July of 2004 Hamilton won the ESPY Award for Best Comeback Athlete of the Year.<ref>[http://espn.go.com/espy2004/s/04bestcomebacknominees.html 2004 ESPY Awards: Best Comeback], ESPN.com, March 1, 2007</ref> She was presented with a special courage award at the 2004 Teen Choice Awards. Hamilton still aspires to become a professional surfer.

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", 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.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*'''General'''
**[http://www.bethanyhamilton.com/ Official Bethany Hamilton Website]
**[http://www.myspace.com/surferbethanyhamilton Bethany Hamilton's Myspace]
*'''Documentary'''
**[http://www.heartofasoulsurfer.com/ Heart of a Soul Surfer Official site] — Bethany's Personal Documentary
**[http://www.myspace.com/heartofasoulsurfer Heart of a Soul Surfer Myspace] — Myspace of the Documentary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Bethany}}
[[Category:1990 births]]
[[Category:American amputees]]
[[Category:Female surfers]]
[[Category:American surfers]]
[[Category:Homeschooling]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Sportspeople of Hawaii]]

[[de:Bethany Hamilton]]
[[es:Bethany Hamilton]]
[[fr:Bethany Hamilton]]
[[sv:Bethany Hamilton]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:05, 28 November 2009
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	{{returnto}} [[Famous Christians]]		{{returnto}} [[Famous Christians]]
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 ==References==
-</reference>
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 **[http://www.heartofasoulsurfer.com/ Heart of a Soul Surfer Official site] &mdash; Bethany's Personal Documentary
 **[http://www.myspace.com/heartofasoulsurfer Heart of a Soul Surfer Myspace] &mdash; Myspace of the Documentary
 {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Bethany}}

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-'''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.
+{{Infobox_Contents |
-==Early life==
+'''Bethany Meilani Hamilton''' (born February 8, 1990) is an American surfer who 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. She is a devout Christian who uses her shark attack experience in her personal ministry.
 Hamilton was born in North Shore, Kauai. Both of her parents were keen surfers who moved to Hawaii from the continental United States for the surfing opportunities. Hamilton was taught how to surf by her parents when she was 2 or 3 years old. Her surfing abilities progressed very quickly and, while still in grade school, she won first place in the "push and ride" division of a Quicksilver surfing contest. She entered her first major competition at the age of 8, the "Rell Sunn" contest on the island of Oahu at Makaha beach, competing in the girls seven to nine shortboard, and seven to nine longboard, taking first place in both.
 Her senior career as a surfer started when she won the 1999 Haleiwa Menehune Championships 23rd annual contest, in February, 2000. In this competition, she placed 1st in the "11-under girls", 1st in the "15-under girls," and 2nd in the "12-under boys" 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.
 Hamilton is also a devout Christian who uses her shark attack experience in her personal ministry.
-==Shark attack and recovery==
+===Shark attack and recovery===
-On October 31, 2003, Hamilton went for a morning surf along Tunnels Beach, Kauai with friends Alana, Byron and Holt Blanchard. Around 7:10 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.  To be exact, it was four inches below her shoulder.  If the shark had bitten 2 inches further in, the attack would have been fatal.  Her friends helped her paddle 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.
 Despite the trauma of the incident, Hamilton was determined to return to surfing. Just ten weeks after the incident, she returned to her board and went surfing again. 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 harder to make up for the loss of her left arm. After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she has again begun surfing competitively.
@@ Line 17: / Line 25: @@
 ==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", 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.
-==External links==
+==References==
 *'''General'''
 **[http://www.bethanyhamilton.com/ Official Bethany Hamilton Website]

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 ==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", 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.
 ==External links==
@@ Line 38: / Line 35: @@
 [[Category:Living people]]
 [[Category:Sportspeople of Hawaii]]