By: Olivia Ho

Skateboarding is an Olympic sport that is normally aimed for those who are young, but Macdonald’s skills got him into the skateboarding Olympics.

Although Macdonald was originally born in the United States because his father was British he decided to represent Britain. He decided to try to go for the team and miraculously succeeded even though his age affected his performance.

His path to get on the team was challenging and he narrowly got in. During the tryouts he only had three chances to show his skills and make it as professional and skillful as he could. For the first two tries he didn’t succeed at all but in his third try he was able to pull it off. The trick he was trying out was a flip trick. You would go to the top of the bowl and then kick the boar so it flips, then you would need to catch it and put it back on your feet.

As he went to flip the board, the board didn’t go where he wanted it to go but he quickly grabbed the board and put it back on his feet just as if he was doing it correctly. This stunned the judges, even if it didn’t go as planned.

Before coming to the Olympics, he participated in the Xgames and won eight gold medals. Macdonald believes that even just getting into the Olympics is just as great as him getting his medals from the Xgames.

The accomplishments that he had before entering the competition fueled his motivation to try out for the team even if he knew the chances of failure due to his age. But now he will be going to Paris.