As the 2021 World Surf League Championship Tour got underway this week, two-time world champion Tyler Wright said she is surfing with more intention than ever before.
At the Maui Pro in Hawaii on Monday, Wright made a statement as she became the first professional surfer to compete with the Progress Pride flag on her jersey.
In a post to Instagram, Wright said: “Today for me feels like another step in my realisation of my true and authentic self. As a proud bisexual woman of the LGBTQ+ community as well as an Australian, I’m delighted to be able to represent both this year on my competition jersey.”
“The number change to 23 represents, to me, a new phase of my career and my growth as a human. The Progress pride flag represents a love that opened my eyes more to who I really am,” she said.
“After a decade and two world titles, I’ve been evaluating what I do with my life and surfing career but more importantly, WHY I do it.”
While professional surfers usually wear the flag of the country they are representing on the shoulders of their jerseys, Wright has opted to compete with the Progress Pride flag, a more inclusive version of the traditional Pride flag. It features black and brown stripes to represent LGBTQ+ communities of colour, and pink, light blue and white, which are the colours of the Transgender Pride Flag.
“I have an opportunity to show up and be exactly who I am,” Wright told USA Today. “This is how I want to show up in my surfing. I want to show up with my humanity first and foremost and with my values. My values are equality and inclusion, that’s what I want to represent.”
Wright breezed through her heats, and went on to score a perfect 10 to defeat seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore in the quarterfinals. Gilmore was leading with less than 10 minutes remaining before Wright managed to pull off an impressive barrel ride to score the 10-point wave and take the win.
“The way it set up on the reef, I was like, ‘Oh, this is one of those ones that if you put yourself in the right spot it can work out really good’,” Wright said afterwards.
“There hadn’t been one of those all day. Once I saw it, I just went with the feeling, and then I celebrated a few times along the way.”
And the first Perfect 10 of the 2021 Season goes to… @tylerGwright. pic.twitter.com/rBwN5ZjUjG
— World Surf League (@wsl) December 8, 2020
As Wright shared on social media, she wants to remain at the top of the surfing world so she can continue to use her platform to have conversations about identity, and help others to feel safe expressing who they are.
“I want to win. I will win so I can continue to use this platform as a place to have conversations about identity, humanity and inclusivity,” she said.
“I’m blessed to able to have a platform in the @WSL, and I feel a responsibility to use it in a way to give voice and empower others. Hopefully, I can encourage others to embrace exactly who they are and to feel safe, expressing that in a way that is best for them.
“I’m looking forward to what I can accomplish this season and the conversations we can have as a community. I’m surfing with more intention than ever before.
“I have been truly loved and seen in this life, and it’s a sort of love that makes me feel like I can be exactly who I am. Forever humbled and always learning.
“Surfing is for everyone @wsl”
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