BETHANY HAMILTON Bethany Meilani Hamilton- Dirks is an American surfer who survived a 2003 shark attack, in which her left arm was bitten. This attack happened on October 31st, 2003 she was 13 years old when this happened and went to Tunnels beach where it happened. She had to surf all the way to sand and they took her straight to the hospital, where her father was at the time getting ready for surgery. The nurse ran to the room Bethany's father was at and told the family friend doctor they needed that room as soon as possible because a girl had got bitten by a shark. Her mother was already on her way to the hospital while her father was already there. Her last competition she had before the attack was the 2002 Open Woman's Division of the NSSA in the USA and won first place. …show more content…
The board that Bethany used the day of the attack had got bitten off, they put the board on the sharks mouth and the measurements were complete. it matched! In late 2004, the police officially confirmed that it was the shark that attacked Bethany. Weeks after Bethany's attack she had finally got back in the water and struggled a lot to get back up and surf. Of course this was very hard for Bethany because she had to do it with one arm but she never gave up! After teaching herself how to surf with one arm on January 10, 2004, she entered a major competition. She now uses standard competitive performance short-boards. During her competition she was in last place when she got back up to a high place and then went back down. The people she was competing with were her best friend a few couple of other people and her worst competitor who did not like her. She was really sad because she didn't do good in the competition and gave up at