A fifty-something skater among the children at the Games

Anti-nature miracle in Paris Olympic skate. Andy MacDonald has lived all his life in the United States, he is from California, from San Diego, although at the Paris Games he is competing for Great Britain, the nationality he inherited from his father. But what caught everyone’s attention is that he is 50 years old, he is 51 years old every Games. A ‘grandfather’ of children’s Olympic sport, the skate park. His British teammates are 15 and 16 years old. Three female medalists at Tokyo 2021 did not reach their age: Japan’s Momiji Nishiya, 13; the Brazilian, Rayssa Leal, at the same age; and co-host Funa Nakayama, 16.

MacDonald has been racing his skateboard since before his rivals were born. His first X Games gold came in 1996, in the last century, when he was 22 years old. In fact, the first skateboarding competitions appeared only ten years before he was born. He arrived in Paris after chasing the penultimate place available in the ranking, but his record is impressive: 15 medals at the ‘X Games’ and eight gold medals at the skateboarding World Cup.

“Everyone was asking me about my age. This was the big issue, because I was surrounded by kids with skateboards, it was supposed to be the youngest sport at the Games and a 50-year-old man showed up. But I deserve to be here, I’m not a new guy I’ve been competing before they were born,” explained Andy, who started competing when he was 12 years old. Just like its rivals, but in contrast it hasn’t stopped doing so after four decades.

“Skateboarding is the fountain of my youth, I see nothing wrong with continuing it if my body allows.” If nothing happens, he will compete on the urban stage of the Place de la Concorde on August 7.

He jokes about another reason: he has the least ‘British’ accent of the entire British team, because he has lived in the United States all his life. “It’s okay. There’s one thing that makes me more British than my classmates: I love tea and they don’t even try it. Are you supposed to be from the United Kingdom and not drink tea? Well, don’t mess with my accent.”

MacDonald is three times the age of skateboarding’s most media figure, 15-year-old prodigy Sky Brown, who, like him, lives in the United States but competes for Great Britain because of his father’s nationality . Olympic qualification allowed him to fulfill a promise of love to his wife. “When we got married, I told him I would take him to Paris whenever possible, but we hadn’t been there in 15 years. When I qualified for the Games, I called him on Facetime and reminded him of the promise That. My eight-year-old daughter immediately caught on and said to me: “Are we going to Paris, to the Games? My husband is speechless.”