Jodie Cooper (born 4 May 1964 in Albany, Western Australia) is a former champion surfer. She won 13 international surfing events, including titles in

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, Hawaii and mainland United States and was runner-up on a further 13 occasions between 1983 and 2002. Despite her event successes, she never won the world women's title however.''W.A. Hall of Champions'' inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the Western Australian Institute of Sport p. 24 Cooper started as an amateur in 1981 and in 1983 turned professional with a second place at the

Bells Beach Surf Classic The Rip Curl Pro, formerly the Bells Beach Surf Classic, is a World Surf League, WSL (formerly Association of Surfing Professionals, ASP) World Tour surfing competition held in and around Torquay, Victoria and sponsored by surf company Rip Curl ...

in Victoria. By the end of the following year she was ranked number four in the world. She had her first professional win at Huntington Beach in California at the start of 1985 and later in the year won the World Cup in Hawaii. With a number of second and third placings she ended the year with a number two world ranking. She quit the world tour in 1994 and after suffering a back injury, retired in 2002, having earned US$148,685 in career prize money which placed her 11th on the All Time money list at that time. The ''Jodie Cooper Award'' (first awarded in 1999) is made to the Western Australian Female Surfer of the Year. She was made a Life Member of the

Association of Surfing Professionals The World Surf League (WSL) is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's best talent in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surf League was originally known as the International Professional ...

in 1994 and in 2001 was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions. She came out as

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, becoming the first openly-gay World Tour surfer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Jodie 1964 births Living people Australian female surfers People from Albany, Western Australia Lesbian sportswomen LGBT surfers LGBT sportspeople from Australia