How Jodie went from skateboarding in her home town of Albany to become a world surfing champion, frothing all the way.

When Jodie Cooper was growing up the kids in her hometown of Albany in Western Australia raised money to build one of the world's first-ever skate parks. They named it the Snake Run, and a talented young Jodie shone on the track.

Once she discovered surfing at the age of 16, she was hooked. By 19, she had turned Pro, and joined a host of remarkable women on the World Tour including Pam Burridge and Wendy Botha.

The women were relegated the poorest waves during events and minimised even as they accumulated medals and world titles. Despite the administrators at the time, Jodie went on to win 12 World Championship tour career titles in her decade on the tour.

In 1997 Jodie made the decision to come out publicly about her sexuality, saying at the time, “I think it's important to be true to yourself and stand up for yourself."

In 2018 the World Surf League committed to equal prize money for men and women in their major events, and in 2020, Jodie was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.  

Further information

Girls Can't Surf is available to watch on Stan

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.