Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Meilani Hamilton, born on 8 February 1990, is an American professional surfer and writer. On 31 October 2003 she survived a shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off, and she went on to return to professional surfing. She wrote about the experience in her 2004 autobiography, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board, which was adapted into the 2011 feature film Soul Surfer. She is also the subject of the 2018 documentary Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable, in which she discusses how marriage and motherhood have affected her professional surfing career. Hamilton attributes her strength to her Christian faith. She is included here as a surfer whose comeback after a life-changing injury became one of the best known stories in the sport.