Bianca Buitendag is a South African professional surfer. She has represented South Africa at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

where she won silver in the women's shortboard competition.

Early and personal life

Buitendag was born in

Cape Town, Western Cape Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's second-largest city by population, after Johannesburg, and the largest city in th ...

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 9 November 1993. She grew up near the beach of

False Bay False Bay (Afrikaans: ''Valsbaai'') is a body of water in the Atlantic Ocean between the mountainous Cape Peninsula and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the extreme south-west of South Africa. The mouth of the bay faces south and is demarc ...

outside of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. With her father's encouragement she learned to surf at the age of eight with her two brothers. When she was twelve her family moved to the Southern Cape region of South Africa. Bianca only spoke

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

when she first went to school, so her parents decided to put her in an English school. In 2015 her father, Collin Buitendag, died. She was still able to finish at her career-best at World No. 4. The following year she was ranked No 12 in the world.

Surfing career highlights

*2013 8th ranked WSL *2013 3rd Colgate Plax Girl's Rio Pro – Brazil *2014 7th ranked WSL *2014 3rd Target Women's Maui Pro – Hawaii *2014 2nd Roxy Pro Gold Coast – Australia *2015 4th ranked WSL *2015 2nd Swatch Women's Pro – California *2015 3rd Van's US Open of Surfing – California *2015 2nd Fiji Women's Pro – Fiji *2015 2nd IO Rio Women's Pro – Brazil *2016 12th ranked WSL *2017 17th ranked WSL *2018 3rd Corona J Bay – Africa *2019 44th ranked WSL *2021 2nd (silver medal)

2020 Summer Olympic Games The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

References

External links

* *
Bianca Buitendag
at Surfer Girls * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buitendag, Bianca Living people 1993 births Sportspeople from George, South Africa South African female surfers World Surf League surfers Olympic surfers for South Africa Surfers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for South Africa Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in surfing Afrikaner people 21st-century South African sportswomen