Tom Carroll was rushed to hospital after suffering a head injury at Narrabeen Beach
Australian surfing legend Tom Carroll has been carried off a beach and rushed to hospital after suffering head injuries.
Carroll was photographed holding the back of his neck while surrounded by lifeguards at Narrabeen Beach, on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, around 9am on Wednesday.
The 63-year-old managed to get himself back to shore while carrying his surfboard, then had his neck examined.
Paramedics treated him before he was placed on a stretcher, carried off the beach and taken to Northern Beaches Hospital.
It is unclear how Carroll suffered the injury, which happened just a day after celebrating his birthday.
The waves at Narrabeen were about 1.5 meters high, a fraction of the size of the waves the former world champion chased after his retirement as a big-wave surfer.
After winning a series of youth championships, Carroll became the world’s first crazy foot world champion in 1983 at the age of 22.
He repeated the feat the following year before becoming surfing’s first millionaire in 1988 with a huge sponsorship deal with Quiksilver.
Australian surfing legend Tom Carroll was taken to hospital on Wednesday with head injuries sustained while surfing at Narrabeen Beach (pictured)
The 63-year-old former world champion was earlier carried off the beach on a stretcher after being examined by lifeguards and paramedics (pictured)
Carroll won back-to-back world championships in 1983-84 before becoming professional surfing’s first millionaire thanks to a huge deal with Quiksilver in 1988
His illustrious career, which ended in 1993, included 26 world tour victories, including three wins at the illustrious Pipe Masters.
He was inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame in 1990 and into the Australian Sport Hall of Fame just two years later.
Carroll later opened up about his struggles with stimulants, including methamphetamines, in the early 2000s.
He turned to drugs after experiencing personal and professional problems, but entered rehab in 2006 after spiraling out of control.
“It wasn’t me who stood up,” he told the ABC in 2015.
“It was someone who was very angry, someone who was toxic, someone who was falling apart emotionally and trying to hold on.
‘I was lucky that I got help at the right time and was open to it.’
He warned that even occasional use of the drug can have serious consequences not only for the individual, but also for those around them.
“Not only does it tear the family apart, but the ripple effect goes right through to the entire community, and it just destroys us from within,” he said.
