When the Olympics roll around every four years, it’s exciting to learn the new sports on the list.
The 2020 Tokyo Olympics saw the introduction of skateboarding, opening the eyes of viewers to the skill of the sport.
Those who watched closely may have noticed just how young some of the athletes are and with her eyes firmly set on the Paris Olympics, Chloe Covell is no exception at a mere 12 years old.
Why skating?
C: My Dad got me to watch the X Games when I was 6 years old and he wanted me to pick out what sport I’d like want to do for like a hobby I guess and I saw a skater Nigel Houston on the X Games and I just, after I saw him skating I just wanted to start skating.
What were your thoughts when skating got accepted into the Olympics?
C: I was so stoked because it’s an amazing sport in my opinion and it definitely deserves to be in the Olympics. I’d like to go there because I like exploring new places and stuff and going skating there.
Females in skating is relatively new isn’t it?
C: Yeah there’s a lot of female skaters that are either like younger than me, my age or like teenage years.
What are the different styles?
C: So there’s park, street and bowl. I do street which is like stairs, rails and ledges, and there’s bowl which is basically like a big bowl and there’s just ramps that you can carve around in and stuff and do like the massive airs, and then there’s park which is like sort of a mix of street and bowl.
What about the scoring system, how does that work?
C: There’s usually two runs that either go to 45 seconds to a minute. You just like throw a couple of tricks in there to fill in the time and just go aorund the skate park and then after that there’s usually like five best tricks.
The Gold Coast has a few cool skate parks… Pizzey Park, we’ve got Tugan, Coolangatta, what do you think of the Gold Coast?
C: I love it. Everyone’s like really supporting and we all get along really good and yeah all the skare parks are really good I reckon.
We wish Chloe all the best with her preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
You will be able to catch all that action and more across the screens of Seven.
