A 51-year-old Brit finished 18th in his event on Wednesday afternoon but placed first for joie de vivre, agelessness, fun, exuberance and the gift of making the heart sing and the soul soar at the joy of the Olympics.
Andy Macdonald was born in Massachusetts and is a resident of San Diego, but glories in the good fortune of having a father who was born in Luton.
And so the Rad Dad, whose kids are older than most of his rivals, got to drink from the cup of timelessness for an enchanted few hours in the heart of the French capital.
Macdonald is a skateboarding legend, one of the pioneers of the sport in the US and one of its most decorated competitors in the X Games.
But it was his dream to become an Olympian and he eked every last drop of enjoyment from it.
Andy Macdonald was delighted to make history at the Olympics but failed to reach the finals
The 51-year-old skateboarding veteran pulled off a number of strong runs by could not qualify
Watched on by old friend and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, Macdonald had a best run score of 77.66
He made three runs in the heats of the men’s skateboard event in a hollowed-out bowl full of curves, slopes and gullies in front of packed stands — in the grand square where they used to bring aristocrats to meet the guillotine during the French Revolution.
This, though, was a triumph for the ancien regime.
When he nailed his second run, replete with breathtaking skills, Tony Hawk, his friend and the most celebrated skateboarder of all, stood up and applauded.
Macdonald, who followed a 17-year-old in each of his three performances, had the crowd eating out of his hand, revelling in his enthusiasm, booing the judges when his scores did not match their expectations and giving him a standing ovation and stamping their feet in unison when he bowed out. ‘If they’re giving away gold medals for whoever has the most fun, I got it wrapped up, right?’ Macdonald said after he had failed to make the top eight who proceeded to the final.
‘I definitely won the gold medal for most fun. Somebody just asked me, “Oh, were you mad about it?” I honestly didn’t look at the scores the whole time.
‘I had to ask, “What place did I get?”, I have no idea. I wasn’t here for the scores, I was here to be here.
‘I was so excited just to have qualified for Paris, because that was the Hail Mary long shot from the get-go. Just to be here and be a part of this, it’s the experience of a lifetime.
Hawk was on hand to offer Macdonald pointers ahead of the start of the preliminary heats
Macdonald lapped up the cheers of the crowd as he poked fun of his advancing years before his first run
Improving with each run completed, Macdonald outqualified an 18 year old to finish 18th
Macdonald switched his international allegiance to Team GB in 2022 after the launch of the sport at the Olympics in 2021
The father of three outqualified Tommy Calvert – who at 13 is younger than Macdonald’s eldest child Hayden
The former X Games champion is 35 years older than Britain’s other skating hopeful Sky Brown
‘Hopefully the fun that skateboarding is, I was trying to represent, “Hey, this is fun no matter what age you are”.
‘This is the coolest, funnest, most inclusive thing that you can do. It’s my livelihood. I’m lucky that I can make a living doing it, but it keeps me young. ‘Skateboarding is my fountain of youth. I’ve been doing it since I was 12 and I’m 51 and still enjoying every minute of it.’
Macdonald cannot generate quite the same speed, height or nimbleness as his younger rivals, whose tricks, moves and ability to shift their feet from their boards in mid-air and then find their place on them again never cease to amaze.
The commentators at the arena might as well have been speaking a different language for those not versed in the terms of the sport, making its second appearance at an Olympics, as competitors pulled off Indy 540s, bodyjars, nose grinds, nollie heel flips and shove-its.
Macdonald revelled in all of it. ‘I’m part of the Olympics and you’re just walking around a sea of people, thousands of athletes that you know are the best in their sport. To be here at the Olympics, you have no idea what is happening. Like, you’re from Sierra Leone. What did you go through to get here? I want to talk to you. How are you here? What’s your story?
Also showing up for the older generation in Paris was South African athlete Dalls Oberholzer
Meanwhile in the women’s event Zheng Haohao broke records as the Games’ youngest athlete
‘And all different ages. The youngest skater is a Chinese girl who is 11 years old.
‘Me and you, you and me, taking selfies with her, everyone’s got a different story. And the most beautiful part of being here is the coming together of the world for sport.’
Keegan Palmer, of Australia, won gold. Tom Schaar, from America, won the silver and Augusto Akio, of Brazil, won bronze.
But Andy Macdonald, of Great Britain, took home the biggest prize of all.
