Andy Macdonald, a 50-year-old skateboarding legend, is set to make his Olympic debut at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. As the oldest skateboarder to compete in the event, Macdonald joins teammates who are younger than his own son, but he believes he can still teach them a trick or two.
The California-based father of three has been announced as a teammate to 2020 Olympic bronze medalist and world champion Sky Brown, 15, and Lola Tambling, 16. Despite the significant age gap, Macdonald remains unfazed and is amazed to have come this far with what started out as a long shot.
“It feels pretty surreal,” he told Reuters. “I never thought that I would actually qualify for the Games, and when I started this process two and a half years ago, it was mostly just like this experiment of ‘yeah, maybe I can compete with 14-year-olds when I’m 50’.”
Macdonald is famed for his mastery of the half-pipe vert ramp but will compete in park skating, a faster-moving discipline that uses a three-dimensional bowl. Securing his place at the last qualifying event in Budapest, he feels he has both something to offer his younger teammates and much to learn from them in return.
“I have an advantage in that I have obviously much more experience in skating in competition, and what it takes to mentally prepare and physically prepare,” Macdonald said. “They have the advantage in their youth. They can fall really hard and just bounce right up. They’re like, ‘Let’s try it again,’ and if I fell that hard, I would be out for, like, two weeks.”
He added, “I have a lot of insight as far as technique and different trick variations that maybe they haven’t heard of or haven’t thought of yet, and they can try. I feed off their youth and their energy because I just try to keep up. I’m 50 years old, and when they get all excited, ‘Let’s go, let’s go, keep skating,’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I got to go and pick up the kids from school.'”
Macdonald’s journey to the Olympics is an inspiring story of perseverance and passion. His participation highlights the growing inclusivity and intergenerational appeal of skateboarding as it continues to gain recognition on the global stage.
Reference(s):
50-year-old skateboarder Andy Macdonald into 2024 Summer Olympics
cgtn.com
