Rayssa Leal has skated her way to another Olympic medal…
The 16-year-old Brazilian professional skateboarder, considered one of the sport’s brightest stars, claimed a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Games in the women’s street skateboarding competition.
While it may have been a bronze, it was celebrated in the stands like it was a gold.
When Leal stuck her all-important final trick of the women’s street skateboarding final at the 2024 Summer Olympics, a deafening roar went up from the many green-and-gold-clad fans watching on.
In that moment, Leal – an undeniably popular figure back home in Brazil with huge support in Paris to prove it – jumped from fifth to third, capitalizing on her final hope of securing a second Olympic medal.
Out in front were the Japanese duo of Coco Yoshizawa, who took gold thanks to a massive score on her fourth trick, and Liz Akama, who’d led for much of the competition.
Just as with this event in Tokyo, the entire podium was made up of teenagers: Yoshizawa is 14, Kama 15, and Leal – who became Brazil’s youngest ever Olympic medalist when she won silver three years ago – 16.
Although she wasn’t able to upgrade her silver from the 2020 Tokyo Games, Leal, along with her huge number of supporters, would have been equally joyous and relieved to win bronze in dramatic fashion, scoring 88.83 with her final act of the competition to climb ahead of China’s Cui Chenxi on the leaderboard.
“It was like a gold medal because … she had to make it,” Brazilian fan Michelle Arruda, who bought tickets for the women’s street skateboarding to watch Leal a year ago, told CNN Sport. “It was a lot of emotion and felt like the Olympic spirit – you have to be here to understand what it is.
“You get so nervous, it’s like you are there with them … We were literally praying, holding hands. It was like: ‘She’s going to make it.’ I don’t know how, but I really believed that she was going to make it.”
Leal first catapulted to fame when a video of her skateboarding aged seven, dressed in a blue fairy princess costume, went viral. It was shared by skateboarding icon Tony Hawk, who tipped his hat to the “fairytale heelflip.”
Known as the fadinha do skate – Portuguese for “skate fairy” – from then on, Leal’s popularity has continued to grow. She has acquired a number of sponsors, including Nike and Monster Energy, and boasts 7 million followers on Instagram, all while her skateboarding has continued to take an upward trajectory.
The highlight of her performance at Paris’ Urban Park, a temporary facility erected on the Place de la Concorde, was scoring 92.88 for the first of her two successful tricks – the second-highest score of the final.
“When I was very young, I dreamed of becoming a skateboard athlete,” Leal told reporters. “And here I am, with a second Olympic medal from the Games. Once again, thanks God I won a medal. I’m very happy to be here.”
