Jodie Cooper (May 4, 1964-) |
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Before Lisa Andersen, there was Frieda Zamba. And before Layne Beachley, there was Jodie Cooper.
This super powerful regularfoot was a stylish, dangerous presence on the ASP World Tour throughout the '80s and the first part of the '90s, dominating Hawaiian events the way Beachley does today with deep carving turns and great big-surf instincts. Cooper grew up in the tough west Australian whaling town of Albany and learned to surf with her older brothers, who encouraged her to compete. By 1983, she had joined fellow young Australian Pam Burridge in the ASP top eight and, along with the USA's Zamba, Kim Mearig, and Jorja and Jolene Smith, made up the new face of women's pro surfing. Cooper's energy and stoke made her very popular among both tour surfers and the public who came to watch her win events such as the 1985 Op Pro and the Haleiwa World Cup -- her first major wins. That season was her finest as she finished second to Zamba. Sharp, intelligent and not afraid of a party, she was the first to cheer on a disheartened competitor -- and there were a few of those in the '80s, when women pro surfers were held in high contempt by their male counterparts. A classic example of that harshness occurred in Hawaii in 1989, when Cooper was punched in the face by Hawaiian pro Johnny-Boy Gomes over wave possession; Gomes told her: "If you act like a man, I'm gonna treat you like a man." Cooper rose above such attitudes to win an event every year she was on tour, rounding it out with a spectacular domination of Hawaii events in 1992 and 1993, when she was unbeaten in Island surf. Jodie Cooper quit the world tour in 1994, having appeared in the Top 8 eleven times and, at 29, been the oldest woman to win an event. She settled in Bondi Beach, Australia, where she still lives but hardly ever surfs; recently she got her first new board in six years. -- Nick Carroll, October 2000 Click here to find all the Jodie Cooper photos and editorial on Surfline.
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