Lakey melts, Stephanie's aura glows…
Surprising nobody, given Lakey Peterson had to win the final event to force a surf off, Stephanie Gilmore has just claimed her seventh world title.
The title equals Layne Beachley’s seven (let’s not count the Masters contest, oui?) and makes her four off Kelly’s eleven. Stephanie won the title in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and, now, 2018.
Gilmore, who is thirty and lives in an adorable bungalow in Malibu (I presume it ain’t ash), was recently profiled in The Weekend Australian Magazine by the writer Will Swanton.
It’s a harrowing read and pivots on the 2010 attack when a homeless schizophrenic junkie beat hell out of Stephanie with a crowbar. (He was jailed for four years.)
Let’s step inside the pages.
Blue jeans. White T-shirt. Big hair. Ocean-coloured eyes with small brown specks that resemble grains of sand she does not wish to rinse away. She taps her right foot on the stool when she talks about the incident. Throughout our hour-long conversation, Stephanie Gilmore declines to call it what it is. A bashing. An assault. An attack that could have killed her. She furrows her brow and squints as if she’s still trying to make sense of it all. “Yeah,” she says quietly. “There was the incident.”
It was early evening, just getting dark, when Gilmore pulled into her Tweed Heads unit block. “And I see this guy. Strange guy. He’s not wearing any shoes. He’s pottering around in the garage area, right at the front of my apartment,” she remembers. “He’s tinkering with a piece of wood, something like that. I remember thinking, ‘That’s a bit weird.’ Human intuition is an incredible thing, eh? I know it’s bad as soon as I see him. I can feel it.”
She talked to herself as she edged towards the stairwell to her second-floor apartment. Look straight ahead. Don’t make eye contact. Keep moving to the door. “I walk about 15 to 20 metres in front of him. I look up the stairs and I’m thinking, ‘How fast can I run up there?’ You have a split-second to make decisions, I guess. But it still feels like there’s all this time to ask yourself questions.” Do I have time to get my key in the door? Will I be able to get inside? “I know he’s going to come after me before he even does it. I feel sick. It’s so bad. It took me years to be able to talk about all this without wanting to cry. I can see my front door. It’s right there and I just keep staring at it. He’s following me. He’s coming up behind me.”
Don’t turn around. “I can’t help it. I turn around,” she says. “A glance back, to see where he is. And he’s sprinting. He has a crowbar in his hand and he’s running at me. I can’t run up the stairs. I definitely don’t have time to unlock the door. I can’t get away — there’s nowhere to go. He’ll chase me and catch me, whatever I do. He has that look in his eyes. It’s terrifying. I know I can’t talk to him. He’s going to get me. I freeze, and he starts hitting me over the head with a crowbar. I remember exactly what I was thinking: Why are you doing this to me?”
He hit her four times. He didn’t rob her. Didn’t sexually assault her. “He just keeps hitting me with a crowbar.” There was blood everywhere. He ran to a BMX bike in the corner of the garage and took off, leaving Gilmore on the ground screaming. “I have my handbag. I have my phone in my hand. It’s bent in half. Caved in. It’s protected me a bit. When I’ve put my hands over my head to protect myself, he’s hit the phone a couple of times. He rides off really fast and I’m thinking, ‘Well, I’m still alive. There’s a good thing.’ More than anything, I want to know why it’s happened. Do I know him? Have I done something to him that I’ve forgotten about? Have I looked at him the wrong way? Have I deserved this? Is it my fault?”
Anyway, eight years later, she’s got seven titles and is, I’m imagining, filled with a slow wave of silky electrical currents.
I’m happy for her – but it’s a little anti-climatic that she got the title b/c her closest rival lost in the second round to a wild card.
I was also wondering when Layne is going to comment now Steph has equalled her? Guarantee it is coming – something along lines it was harder in her day shit!!!
Fuck I hate Layne.
She made a point to mention the masters championship over on the twitter 😉
Woke up to a news channel here with – Layne says “Steph can win many more titles” predictable AF!!!
When the waves are pumping WSL should switch into two heats in the water mode, like at Pipe. It’s a crime to see so many good waves go unridden.
Wouldn’t matter when majority of the field is actively avoiding the good waves. How many roll-in to kick-outs before running barrel sections do we need crammed into an hour?
Yea – I know what you mean but at least the contest would get completed earlier so the locals get a fair go at the swell. Like today – what did they get ? A half hour, maybe an hour at the end ? That sucks on a pumping swell like that.
One of my best friends from school days said he got plenty of waves at the cave this morning as most the WSL circus was completely avoiding the section altogether, but I agree with you. The sooner they’re gone the better for the locals. Wish I could share some of the videos he sent me of CT chicks blowing sick ones, but there’s plenty of examples on the webcast.
Yea heh, there was one of the girls I saw rolled in and the wave was going to reel. She kicked off as it was jacking in front of her. Think it was Potz who covered up for her and said ahh, shes pulled out of that one to retain priority. Fucken Hell.
That said, I saw some really good committed stuff from the usual suspects.
And from last heat Summer Macedo.
Definitely two sides to that coin.. some really committed performances as you noted.
Dez surely Steph winning got you hard no?
Ain’t my type!
??
ain’t my type either!
steph is my hero and surfing role model. would love to be friends with her. but romance? not with a woman whose got slimmer hips and broader shoulders than me.
I’m guessing she ain’t the only one, lil man.
I like her silky vibe, howevs. And I enjoy, ever so much, her lines.
No hear ya BUT was just hoping the loins might have stirred just a little??
Not even an unpleasant itch.
Congrats to Steph, she’s the best.
Bethany Hamilton is getting belted out Maui right now, I’m wondering if there is any other sport where athletes with a disability compete against non disabled athletes? Her and Joanne just got caught on the inside with no jetski assist, was hard to watch her struggle getting out of the impact zone.
painful watching the girls get smoked. steph and few others have been able to shine. a men’s stop in honolua would be entertaining!
I don’t want to start a shit storm but the fact that you can get paid the same for avoiding a barrel like it’s herpes and throwing yourself over the ledge at pipe doesn’t sit well with me. Would be interesting to see what the big waves guys got paid today.
Wave to them when they cruise past ya in the latest audi
Bethany is a real-life miracle. Y’see her the other day at Teahupoo? One hand to get you upright before the hammer comes down?
Isn’t she! most of the footage I see of her i’m in disbelief at how she does what she does with only one wing! I guess i’ve never seen it affect her as much as it did in her heat today, not being able to get into the wave quick enough, getting pitched then caught on the inside struggling while Joanne 2 wing Defay casually paddled back out to get priority. Makes you appreciate how much of a freak she is
maybe one of the best in the world
Yeah
She’s hell!
But she’s got groms
What’s she doin at Chopes?
Makin’ a living!
Nice
Hope she keeps living.
Her God’s already had one swing at smiting her, I doubt he’ll bury her into the Teahupoo rocks.
I can’t even paddle back to the boat after half an hour with two arms. I swim like a fucken dugong from Pakistan.
Someone could of had the decency to lend her a hand
Dad? Is that you?
I teach in an inner-city high school in Columbus, OH, and I typically put Surfline cams or WSL comps on my Smartboard as sort of a live screensaver when my classes are working on lab activities.
When the Maui Beachwaver comp at Honolua started I put it up and she was the one and only surfer any of my students asked about. Even here she stands out as really something special, and for good reason.
Glad they got to see her paste a couple waves and make it out of that first heat…
Lakey peaked really hard in the semi at J-Bay; probably did some of the best surfing ever; and never came close to that level since. If she saved her energy for the J-Bay final (instead of massacring more waves than she needed in the semi) it could be a different story, today. That said, her surfing looked very ‘off’ today.
It’s a head game at that level.
FucKen good year but.
I likes me Lakes!
Jusus, what a prick.
Why would that journo scum want to make her relive that.
It’s an essential element to her story, non?
Not really.
I think my problem is the detail.
I hope that cunt got seriouly
Disabled in the joint!
Blame Rip Curl. What was Steph doing living in a slum when she was multiple world champ? How much was Rip Curl paying her? At least Roxy paid her more for exposing some flesh & pretending to feel kinky.
I’m not sure if you’ve been there but Tweed Heads will overwhelm you to the point of nausea. Ain’t no hiding from the shrub dwellers no matter how pretty your house is.
Well, all I can recall was she was living in a ghetto that attracts vagrants.
You could sling that epithet at every apartment block in that god forsaken town
Don’t speak of my beloved cooly like that! Every year I’m a way the brighter it shines in my memories
Oh, Coolangatta is a cultural hub, as sophisticated as a turtle neck sweater. Once you cross the border, howevs…
It’s crazy how sharp the line is ay
one street back from the border and you can smell the desperation.
And on Friday night it all blends together, on the coolie side
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
So Coolangatta should donate a bit of class south, you reckon?
Class might be too strong a word, but yes, something.
Mick and parko fit in well there
Mick’s grand-as-anything castle is a little further north in the hills of Tugun, I believe.
Whatevs.
More importantly
What kind of shorts did Malia wear today?
Little ones?
Yummy!
Yesterday you were quitting Beachgrit… what happened?
Stab blows.
And I felt sorry for yas.
Can you stop trolling me now
I got a late night call from your boss.
I had to say I’d come back just to get rid of him
lululemon, natch
Oh you’re good! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
ha ha yah — i love those cutey surf suits. i don’t fit ’em, but i love ’em!
#metoo
I’m glad she took my advice and ditched those flappy white ones.
Only Steph can rock those.
Hills of Tugun?
least it keeps the price of real estate realistic, looking on the bright side.
I dare you to sell the Lennox spread and move to West Tweed…
that would make D-Bah my local break, yes?
And how much for a 3 bedder?
Weekends at Twin Towns.
Nothin the matter with Dbah and the back beaches LT Picked up a three storey pole home with granny flat and ocean views on all levels out over Tweed river/ Fingal for under 400k three years back.
Worth 650k now and haven’t touched it
Hang onto it for another three years and it’ll be worth 400 again!
Haha don’t be cruel mate! your probs right but thanks for the sage advice, do you have any more, perhaps regarding river ferry ventures or investment in a deck grip company?
Do you want to lose money? Let me show you how!
I can see you and the entourage in this pussy palace. Ten minutes from D-Bah and right in the thick of West Tweed Heads’ cultural melange. Change from three hundred k too.
https://www.realestate.com….
not in LA it doesn’t. in fact, the high price of housing is part of the problem (a very small part, but still)
I think most people rarely leave jail unscathed.
Someone on the interwebs recently told me that I wouldn’t last long in the can. And I’m inclined to agree. Thanks to my delicate sensitivities I would probably become the most used and abused prison whore in the joint. But I only came to that realisation after I went and cried about the comment for 3 hours. Or was it 3 days? I’m still weeping as I type.
It’s an obvious question and I would totally ask it.
Of course, if she declines to answer, that’s a-okay.
Well I hope she’s not asked again anytime soon.
Click on the world title video at the bottom of the story for more!