Multiple world champion surfer Wendy Botha to be inducted into Sport Australia Hall of Fame
MULTIPLE world champion Wendy Botha says every time she watches world championship contender Stephanie Gilmore surf a rippable wave “a green eyed monster” appears.
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MULTIPLE world champion Wendy Botha says every time she watches world championship contender Stephanie Gilmore surf a rippable wave “a green-eyed monster” appears.
When Gilmore nails a barrel, rides a perfect tube or get to surf in a wave pool, the four-time world champion and legend admits she is jealous.
Jealous Gilmore and her cohorts are lifting women’s surfing to new levels now they share time in the best conditions with their male counterparts whose prizemoney they will match on the world tour for the first time in 2019.
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An early campaigner for more equitable prizemoney and conditions for women, Botha, now 53, says she would give “half a leg” to be surfing at Kelly Slater’s surf ranch on man-made waves.
We were always sent out in the crappiest of crap. It is really hard to surf good in the crap
“There’s plenty of green-eyed monster there,” said Botha, an inductee in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame 2018 for her domination of surfing in the late 80s and 90s before retiring at just 27 with knee injuries.
“But at the same time I am so happy they are being sent out in great conditions now.
“So happy they are getting equal time in the best waves. They deserve it all. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime
“For me it’s not about the money. I just wish I was surfing those great conditions too.’’
Botha said no matter how they pushed for fairness, women in her era were always treated as second class when it came to surfing the best waves in competition.
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“We did stand up for ourselves, to get better money and be in good waves. I was lucky to get great out of surf sponsors. But I was always at the meetings with the girls pushing for better treatment,’’ she said.
“But we were always sent out in the crappiest of crap. It is really hard to surf good in the crap.
“I can count on one, or maybe two hands, the surfs I had in a competition in good waves.’’
Botha honed her skills competing against males in South Africa in her teens – “I was really blessed. I used to beat them but they were never narky’’ – and won her first world crown in 1987 and her following three in 1989, 1991 and 1992 for her adopted country Australia,
Her 1989 world surf crown, won by securing a record seven events as a freshly naturalised Australian citizen, was the highlight.
“The ‘89 one stands out. I was on fire. I won seven of 12 events. I felt I could do no wrong,’’ said Botha, who in 1992 posed nude for the first sold out edition of Playboy in Australia.
Gold Coast based Botha, who married former rugby league international Brent Todd and has two children, believes the secret to her success was being able to channel her hatred of losing into form.
“I was shy on land but super confident on the water and I was such a bad loser in everything. I was terrible,’’ Botha said.
“I was the kid who would chuck the board if I lost. If I was losing at rugby with my brothers I’d kick the ball over the fence.
“As I got older I got better with my behaviour and instead just went home and cried.
“It can be a good thing. You just have to channel it. Not throw your toys out of the pram publicly. Cry at home, not in public.’’
Wendy Botha will be honoured at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame gala in Melbourne on October 11.
