Duke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian competition swimmer who popularized the sport of surfing. A Native Hawaiian, he was born to a minor noble family less than three years before the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He lived to see the territory's admission as a state, and became a United States citizen. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming, winning medals in 1912, 1920 and 1924.
Layne Collette Beachley is a former professional surfer from Manly, New South Wales. She won the World Championship seven times. Currently she is the chair of Surfing Australia.
Sofía Mulánovich Aljovín is a Peruvian surfer. She is a 3-time World Surfing Champion, 1 WSL and 2 ISA world championships,. She is the first Peruvian surfer ever to win a World Surf League World Championship Tour event and the first Latin American ever to win the World Title, which she did in 2004. In 2004, she won three out of the six World Championship Tour events, and finished the season as Absolute World Champion. Sofia is the only one Latin-american surfer to win 2 ISA World Championships. Sofia won the ISA Championships, 2004 in Salinas-Ecuador and 2019 in Miyazaki-Japan. Her main sponsor is Roxy.
Pauline Menczer is an Australian surfer. She was Women's World Champion for Professional Surfing in 1993.
Thomas Victor Carroll is an Australian former professional surfer from Sydney. He won the Australian Junior Title in 1978, the Pro Juniors in 1977 and 1980, the 1983 and 1984 ASP World Tour, and the 1987 Pipe Masters. He became the first surfing millionaire after signing a contract with Quiksilver in 1989.
Margo Oberg was the first female professional surfer in the world. She won her first competition at the age of 11, won her first world title at 15, and became the first professional female surfer in 1975.
Lisa Gaye Curry AO MBE, also known by her married name Lisa Curry-Kenny, is an Australian former competition swimmer.
Lisa Andersen is an American four-time world surfing champion. She won four successive world titles from 1994 to 1997. She was named ASP's Rookie of the Year in 1987. She was named as one of the 100 "Greatest Sportswomen of the Century" by Sports Illustrated for Women. She was named the "1998 Female Athlete of the Year" by Conde Nast Sports for Women magazine. She is a two-times winner of Surfer Magazine's Readers Poll. In 2002, she was inducted into the Surfer's Hall of Fame. In 2004, she was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame as that year's Woman of the Year.
Joyce Hoffman is an American surfer, considered a pioneer in her sport. She is often regarded as the first female international surfing star and was one of the first inductees of the International Surfing Hall of Fame. In 1968 she became the first woman to surf the Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii.
Phyllis O'Donnell is an Australian surfer who became the first Women's World Surfing Champion. O'Donnell won the championship in 1964 at the age of 27. At the time, surfing was dominated by men, and her championship was regarded as a step forward for women's recognition in the sport. O'Donnell also won the women's division of the Australian National Titles in 1963, 1964, and 1965.
Bernard "Midget" Farrelly was the first world surfing champion.
Ian Cairns is a former champion surfer who was also influential in establishing the world professional surfing circuit and particularly the World Championship Tour. He was described as "the premier "power" surfer of his era [who] dominated the North Shore during the mid to late-seventies".
Pam Burridge is an Australian surfer and one of the pioneers of women’s surfing in Australia.
The U.S. Open of Surfing is a week-long surfing competition held annually during the summer in Huntington Beach, California. Generally held on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, the U.S. Open is part of the qualification process for the World Surf League and is a WSL QS 10,000 event. It is the largest surfing competition in the world. It has been owned by IMG since 2000.
Wendy Lynn Schaeffer, OAM is an Australian equestrian and Olympic champion. She won a team gold medal in eventing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Schaeffer was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2002.
Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew is an Australian world champion surfer, surf sports innovator, community advocate and politician. Bartholomew is the former CEO and President of the Association of Surfing Professionals and the creator of the Dream Tour format of professional competition surfing.
Australia is renowned as one of the world's premier surfing destinations. Surfing underpins an important part of the Australian coastal fabric. It forms part of a lifestyle in which millions participate and which millions more have an interest. Australian surfboard-makers have driven innovation in surfboard design and production since the mid-1960s. The country has launched corporate giants such as Billabong, Rip Curl and Quiksilver.
Courtney Conlogue is an American professional surfer. She was born in Santa Ana, California. Courtney learned to surf at the age of 4. In 2004 when she was 11, Conlogue was the youngest athlete to be selected to the USA Junior Surf Team. She went on to achieve 11th place in the 2005 ISA World Junior Surfing Championships. By the time she was 14, she had won a surfing gold medal as a member of the U.S. Team in the X Games. When she was 17 she won the biggest competition in the US at the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing, held at her home break in Huntington Beach, California.
Karla Nicole Gilbert OAM is a former Australian professional surf lifesaver.
