By: Rachel Chen

Andy Macdonald, a 50-year-old skateboarder, recently qualified for the Paris Olympics in July representing the British. It’s rare to still be skateboarding at his age – Macdonald often competes with people a third of his age.

The Olympic medalists during the year of 2021 when skateboarding was made an official Olympic sport were 22, 19, 18, and 13 years old. Even an 11-year-old from China is going to compete at the Paris Olympics this year. Still, Macdonald’s score was high enough in the British Olympic Qualifiers to go to the Olympics. Macdonald will be 51 when he actually competes in the park event of skateboarding, which is where skateboarders do tricks in a bowl with all types of hurdles.

Since Macdonald is quite old for this sport, he can get injured much easier. He has had an ankle surgery and two knee surgeries. He has broken his ankle once and his kneecap as well. Macdonald claims that he has been lucky with injuries though. He said, “But other than that, I’ve been pretty lucky. The longest I’ve been out is two months.”

Doing tricks is harder for Macdonald too. He said the max he can spin is a 720 which is 2 revolutions. In the meantime, other young skateboards are spinning 900s which is 2 and a half revolutions. Macdonald started skateboarding later than them too. He started at twelve while other skateboarders started at a young age of 5 and 6.

However, Macdonald still enjoys his time practicing with other athletes a third of his age. Macdonald thinks teaching young children is inspirational. They are all skateboarders despite their age.

Image Credit by Salvio Bhering