FORMER surfing world champion Pauline Menczer has been honoured with a statue in recognition of her advocacy for women in the sport.<\/p>\n
The statue is at South Bondi Beach in Sydney where Menczer grew up before making the world tour.<\/p>\n
She won a world title in 1993 and has lived on the Far North Coast near Byron Bay for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
The bronze figure was designed by artist Cathy Weiszmann and portrays a young Pauline doing a surf-check, while looking out across the ocean from the park.<\/p>\n
“This statue isn’t just about me, it’s for everyone,” Menczer said.<\/p>\n
“Anyone who was told they can’t or shouldn’t, the battlers and those who have experienced adversity and challenges in their lives and health.<\/p>\n
“I want it to inspire. If one kid walks past and says, ‘If she can do it, I can do it’, I’ll be stoked.”<\/p>\n
Menczer is the only surfer from Bondi to win a world title, which she received no prize money for.<\/p>\n
She made the amateur circuit with financial support from her school and community.<\/p>\n
“I was a scrappy little grom growing up in Ocean Street with my mum, Grace, and three brothers,” she said.<\/p>\n
“My dad was killed when I was five years old, and so the ocean just became our playing field.<\/p>\n
“We didn’t have much growing up, but I found surfing and that was free.<\/p>\n
“I had arthritis, but that made me appreciate every moment.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t get financial sponsors because I didn’t have the right beach-babe look or the blue eyes, but I could speak my mind and call out the outrageous inequities in women’s surfing and make noise without getting in trouble by sponsors.”<\/p>\n
Menczer was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 2018<\/p>\n
She was also part of the Girls Can’t Surf film in 2022 where director Chris Nelius first lobbied Waverley Council to have the statue of Menczer erected at Bondi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FORMER surfing world champion Pauline Menczer has been honoured with a statue in recognition of her advocacy for women in the sport. The statue is at South Bondi Beach in Sydney where Menczer grew up before making the world tour. She won a world title in 1993 and has lived on the Far North Coast […]<\/p>\n