By: Claire Zhou

Skateboarding has mostly been seen as a sport done by the young. When the sport was introduced into the Olympics, the gold medalists were 22, 19, 18, and 13 years olds. This summer, Zheng Haohaoo of China, will participate in the Paris Olympics, at only 11 years old. But so will Andy Macdonald, and he’s 50.

Andy Mcdonald was born in the United States but represents Britain because of his British father. By the time he competes in the Olympics, he’ll be 51 and doing tricks with bumps, pipes, and ramps.

Mcdonalds never expected himself to qualify for the Olympics. There are only 22 spots and his coach told him he’d have to make it to the semifinals at the upcoming Budapest qualifier, but he hadn’t ever even made it into the quarterfinals!

During the Budapest qualifier, you get a total of three runs. However Mcdonald missed the first two, but regardless of the long shot, he pushed through and managed to pull it off. He survived thanks to his last run, scoring 11 points higher than he ever did and just barely crossing the line to qualify.

The main difference between skateboarding at 12 and at 50 is the recovery. “It hurts more when you fall. It takes longer to heal. But just don’t stop. That’s how you keep doing it into your 50s,” Mcdonald said in an interview with New York Times.

Mcdonalds never expected to end up qualifying, and even if he’s going against people a third of this age, so what? They’re still just competitors all hoping to win the gold medal. And of course, Mcdonald will fight with all he’s got.

Image Credit by HASAN ZAHRA