{"id":298804,"date":"2025-11-21T07:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T07:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298804\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T07:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T07:36:11","slug":"bronzed-bust-unveiled-to-honour-australian-surfing-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/298804\/","title":{"rendered":"Bronzed bust unveiled to honour Australian surfing champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a remarkable week for Australian surfing, the ceremony follows seven-time world champion Layne Beachley claiming the Dawn Award<\/a> at a Sport Australia Hall of Fame dinner and eight-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore announcing she would return to the world championship tour<\/a> next year to chase a ninth title.<\/p>\n

Menczer, who grew up with a single mother of four after her taxi driver father was murdered, was sometimes abused by male surfers in the Bondi waves as a teenager.<\/p>\n

During her professional career, she had to deal with crippling rheumatoid arthritis, a lack of sponsors given she was far from the blonde surfie chick ideal at the time, the sport\u2019s boy\u2019s club mentality and fears about revealing she was gay.<\/p>\n

On the day of the tour\u2019s climactic contest in 1993, Menczer\u2019s arthritis was so bad that she doubted she could even surf. But when the hooter went, she said her determination to win and the adrenaline made her forget about the pain until she was announced as world champion.<\/p>\n

Menczer received no prizemoney, just a trophy she later realised was broken.<\/p>\n

\"Cathy<\/p>\n

Cathy Weiszmann\u2019s statue is at the south end of Bondi Beach.Credit: Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n

When supporters ran a GoFundMe campaign to raise the $25,000 she should have received for her world title win, Menczer gave away everything over that total, $35,000, to people she considered more deserving, including a father of five in the Philippines with the same autoimmune disease and a disabled surfers\u2019 association.<\/p>\n

Living at Brunswick Heads, she now works as a part-time carer for a man with multiple sclerosis and advocates for making beaches more accessible. \u201cI\u2019m always fighting ill health, but I\u2019m soldiering on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

When Nelius asked if she wanted a statue, Menczer was initially reluctant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought, I don\u2019t need a statue,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t have a big head. But after hundreds of beautiful messages I got after the movie, I realised how important it is to share your story.\u201d<\/p>\n

One was from someone who was suicidal from the pain of their arthritis.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter getting messages like that, I realised this statue is really important if it inspires just one person,\u201d Menczer said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re unwell, you really feel like you\u2019re on your own. But when you hear about other people [with a similar disease], you can reach out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

Menczer went through photos from her early life with sculptor Cathy Weiszmann, who has previously created sculptures of sports stars Adam Goodes, Belinda Clark, Johnny Warren and Betty Cuthbert among others, to decide on a pose.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to capture youth and determination and just the happiness of being able to surf,\u201d Weiszmann said. She had learnt from getting to know Menczer that \u201csurfing is a special thing that you do with your soul\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statue is on the path at the southern end of the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a couple of metres away, I used to stand on the hill and check the surf,\u201d Menczer said. \u201cSo it\u2019s like I\u2019m permanently checking the surf now.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Menczer last surfed at Bondi, earlier this year, she was struck by how much it had changed.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The plaque that honours Pauline Menczer by the statue.Credit: Wolter Peeters<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually couldn\u2019t believe that I got called on to waves,\u201d she said. \u201cBefore I had to hassle and be hard-core. So it feels like I\u2019ve earnt respect there now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a remarkable week for Australian surfing, the ceremony follows seven-time world champion Layne Beachley claiming the Dawn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-298804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-design","14":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}