Bethany Hamilton

Bethany Hamilton is honestly one of the most jaw-dropping comeback stories in sports history, full stop. She grew up surfing the waters of Kauai, Hawaii, and was already competing seriously as a teenager when a tiger shark took her left arm on Halloween morning in 2003. She was 13. Most people would never go near the ocean again — I know I wouldn't — but she was back on her board within a month, learning to paddle and balance all over again with one arm. She went on to compete professionally, write the autobiography Soul Surfer, which became a film, and build a platform around faith and resilience that clearly resonates with millions of people. What gets me is that she didn't just survive; she genuinely thrived on her own terms, redefining what "professional surfer" even means.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Bethany Hamilton

Name (Japanese)

ベサニー・ハミルトン

Reading

べさにー・はみるとん

Born

February 8, 1990 (age 36)

Origin

Līhuʻe, Hawaii, United States

Height

180 cm

Occupation

surfer / autobiographer / writer / athlete

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Horse

• Official sitehttps://bethanyhamilton.com/
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/bethanyhamilton/
• Xhttps://x.com/bethanyhamilton
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethany%20Hamilton
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%99%E3%82%B5%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%8F%E3%83%9F%E3%83%AB%E3%83%88%E3%83%B3
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q234216

Tags

• Hawaii
• surfer
• autobiographer
• writer

Last updated

September 18, 2026

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.