1986 - present

Professional surfer Jessi Miley-Dyer first came to the world’s attention as a 14-year-old in 2000, carrying the Sydney Olympics flame on to Bondi Beach from a surf boat as a representative of Surf Lifesaving Australia.

Miley-Dyer was a champion junior lifeguard and swimmer who had been encouraged to take up surfing by her aunt, Brenda Miley, who owns the Bondi surf school Let’s Go Surfing.

In 2000 and 2001 Miley-Dyer won the Australian national under 16 surfing titles and by 2003 had won the national under 18 surfing titles and was crowned International Surfing Association (ISA) world junior champion, all while finishing her final year of high school at Sydney Girls High. 

She finished her rookie season in 2006, beating world champion Layne Beachley to win the season ending Billabong Pro Maui, finishing fourth on the world surfing tour. That year she also crowned the inaugural WSL world junior women's champion and was named the world surf leagues’ rookie of the year.

Miley-Dyer received a Ben Lexcen sports scholarship to study at the University of NSW while continuing to surf on the world tour.  She now has a master’s degree in business after completing a degree in Media (Communications and Journalism).

‘The university has an elite athlete program where they waive your attendance requirements and give you other support,’ Miley-Dyer said.

She knows the advantages of preparing for the future. ‘More surfers should be doing this. I'm seeing a lot of younger surfers not finishing high school and I think it's … a problem. We should be encouraging the next generation to finish some form of education or we are just continuing the dopey surfer stereotype.’

Miley-Dyer retired from the world surf pro tour aged 25, due to injury. In 2018, she was part of the team that made history by ushering in equal prize money for women surfers at the highest level of sport.

In 2021, she took over as senior vice-president as head of competition overseeing all World Surfing League tour events for both men and women including the Championship Tour, Challenger Series, Qualifying Series, Pro Junior Series, Big Wave, Longboard, and specialty events. She is the first woman to hold the position.   

Images courtesy Jessi Miley-Dyer.