OUR KIND OF GIRL-STEPHANIE GILMORE

The seven-time surfing world champion reflects on the thrill of competition, overcoming setbacks and going for gold and GOAT status

- BEN JHOTY

Even world champions get nervous sometimes. Stephanie Gilmore is driving to band practice for a bushfire relief gig when MH catches up with her. There she’ll get up on stage with her mate Bernard Fanning and knock out a song or two on her guitar. An athlete who’s made a career out of finding calm in the heat of competition, Gilmore professes to being “a nervous wreck”. “People are always asking us as athletes, ‘How do you get in the zone when you should be freaking out?’” she says. “I think that’s the coolest part about getting on stage and doing something that’s completely out of your comfort zone.” She’s a fish out of water perhaps but as Gilmore tells MH, sometimes that’s where you need to be. “I’m just trying to say yes to more of these things because deep down I’m probably thinking, ‘Oh no, don’t do it’. But really, they’re the moments you always remember.”

FAMILY FUN