Mick Fanning AO was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2024 as an Athlete Member for his contribution to the sport of Surfing.

Mick Fanning cemented his legacy as one of Australia’s most gifted and greatest surfers in a career spanning almost two decades.
The naturally talented, but exceptionally hard-working surfer overcame personal hardship, injury and even an encounter with a shark to reach the pinnacle in his chosen sport.
Fanning was crowned world champion on three occasions (2007, 2009 and 2013), had 22 Championship Tour victories, and was named as Australian Male Surfer of the Year nine times (2002, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2016).
He elevated the sport into the global spotlight in 2015 when he fought off a shark who had become entangled in his surfboard leash in the final of the J-Bay Open in South Africa.
That moment saw Fanning and fellow Australian surfer Julian Wilson – who came to his assistance – share the Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s Spirit of Sport award in 2015, signifying an act of bravery and mateship.
Fanning was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia and added to the World Surfers’ Hall of Fame in 2017, as well as the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 2021.

If Mick Fanning’s surfing career had only been about his altercation with a shark that unfolded live on television and was flashed around the world in 2015, it would have made for one of the most extraordinary stories in Australian sport.
But thankfully there was so much more to it than that.
What the determined, resilient Fanning achieved in riding the crest of a thousand and more waves all around the world stamped him as one of the legendary figures in his chosen sport.
In doing so, he overcame adversity, a career-threatening injury and personal heartache, never daunted by the challenges that would have crushed the composure of others.
He was born the youngest of five children in Penrith, in Sydney’s western suburbs, more than two hours away from the beach.
The breakdown of his parents’ marriage saw the family move to Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales border with Queensland, and a hankering to join in with his older brothers when they went surfing set out a pathway for Fanning’s future endeavours.
As the youngest, he swiftly realised he had to compete for everything, saying years later: “We battled for everything: food, toys and eventually waves … I think that’s where my competitive nature comes from.”
As a teenager, Fanning was already one of the best amateur surfers on the Gold Coast, but the death of his brother Sean in a car accident in 1998 rocked his – and his family’s – world.
Fanning detailed the anguish on his website: “My older brother Sean had the same goals and it bound us. We dreamed of making the tour together. He encouraged me and looked out for me. I locked myself in my room (after his death) and didn’t leave for a week.”
But with his brother’s memory urging him on, Fanning stamped himself as one of the hottest surfing prospects in Australia when he took a wildcard entry into the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach in 2001 – as a 20-year-old – and stunned onlookers by taking out the event.
A star – and a nickname, ‘White lightning’ – were born, with his speed and his balance the attributes that would drive him onto greater success.
“Oh wow, I’m just stoked …to win at Bells is just ridiculous,” Fanning said at the time.
He earned his place on the world tour, winning the 2002 rookie of the year honours as well as victory at the Billabong Pro at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa – the scene of future dramas.
But just as Fanning was making a mark on his surfing career, he was confronted with more pain. He tore his hamstring off the pelvic bone, requiring surgery, with some of the medical advice questioning whether he could get back to the elite level.
He immediately went to work on learning more about his body and coming to terms with what was required if he was going to become world champion.
He returned stronger – and better.
After securing more wins on the tour in 2005 and 2006, his quest to be the best was finally validated in Brazil in 2007.
He saw a dolphin emerging on its own during the heats, and feeling the presence of his brother Sean, he went on to lock in the first of his three world champion’s titles.
His second world title came in 2009, after the previous year had been interrupted by injury, with a third title coming in 2013, franking his status as one of the sport’s greatest athletes.
He labelled the third title as his most enjoyable, saying it came at a time when he could “flick the switch and get into competitive mode but also zone out and enjoy the world around me.”
Yet the challenges kept coming.
During the 2015 J-Bay Open finals at Jeffreys Bay, in South Africa, a shark emerged from nowhere and became entangled in the leg rope of Fanning’s board.
As the shark tried to bite its way through the rope, Fanning’s instinct was to fight back with a punch that was seen around the world, with fellow surfer Julian Wilson paddling towards him in an effort to assist him.
It looked like a life or death moment. But the shark moved on, with Fanning saying afterwards: “I’m just lucky, it wasn’t my time.”
Later that year, as Fanning was in the fight for what would have been a fourth world title, he received news that his eldest brother Pete had passed away. With a heavy heart, he kept competing, but narrowly missed out on the title.
The pain of losing, as he would say, was nothing compared to the pain of losing a sibling.
Understandably, Fanning struggled for motivation throughout 2016, competing in order to maintain his place on the tour the following season.
But fittingly he returned to Jeffreys Bay to compete in the J-Bay Open, not to confront his demons, but to finish what he had started 12 months earlier when the final had been cancelled after the shark incident.
He announced his retirement from the sport in 2018, closing it out when second in the final at Bells Beach. There was even a short-lived wildcard comeback.
Fanning’s impact on the sport will live on for those who followed his career with relish, and those who have tried to emulate his almost perfect balance of power and grace.
As he said when he bowed out of competitive surfing: “It’s been a rollercoaster, for sure, you have your peaks and valleys, but you know, when I look back on my time on tour, it’s the amazing memories – from building myself up to compete, to heat wins and event wins, celebrating with friends and just seeing places I never thought I’d even get to.”

Honours & Achievements

• 2002: Australian Male Surfer of the Year
• 2004: Australian Male Surfer of the Year
• 2007 & 2008: Australian Male Surfer of the Year
• 2010 & 2011: Australian Male Surfer of the Year
• 2014 to 2016: Australian Male Surfer of the Year
• 2017: Inducted into the Surfers Hall of Fame
• 2017: Appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia
• 2021: Inducted into the Surfing Australia Hall of Fame

Photo courtesy Alamy.