Arisa Trew of Australia competes during the women’s park final of skateboarding at the Paris Olympics. Photo: XinhuaFourteen-year-old Arisa Trew led a pack of teenagers who swept the podium of the women’s park skateboarding competition at the Paris Games on Tuesday.
With her pink knee guards and ponytail, she sailed through the course to win Australia’s first medal in women’s skateboarding.
“It’s really cool because all the girls are pushing skating,” said Arisa, who was joined on the podium by Japan’s Cocona Hiraki, 15, who took silver and Britain’s Sky Brown, 16, who won bronze.
The competition took place by the French capital’s oldest monument, the gold-tipped Obelisk. On the high-pressure Olympic stage, the young athletes banded together.
“It’s normal to be nervous at such a big event, but all the girls are cheering each other on, and that helped a lot in terms of relieving stress,” said Cocona, who started skating when she was five.
Six of the eight finalists were teens. The youngest athlete to compete in the Paris Olympics, 11-year-old Zheng Haohao, of China, took part in the preliminary competition earlier in the day.
“It’s crazy to me” to have such young competitors, said Finland’s Heili Sirvio, a 13-year-old, who soaked up the media attention at the event.
“It was so fun to skate with her [Heili] today in the finals,” Arisa said. “I love hanging out with her and watching her skate.”
Skateboarding prodigy Sky, who won her first bronze in Tokyo at age 13, sees the progression of skateboarding with her generation, but is still learning from the veterans of the sport. Her teammate, Andy MacDonald, 51, will compete in the men’s park competition on Wednesday.
“Honestly, I don’t understand half of the tricks he does,” said Sky, adding that she could use some pointers from the old guard.
“I always said age doesn’t matter, and he really shows that in skateboarding.”