Olympic dreams inspire new wave of young skateboarders in Spain

Skateboarding is gaining followers in Spain as a new Olympic sport, with hundreds of wide-eyed enthusiasts flocking to training grounds in the hope of becoming professional athletes.

After making its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, skateboarding will again feature in Paris later this month, with competitors taking over the iconic Place de la Concorde.

In Spain, the number of skateboarding federation members has soared to more than 1 100 this year from just 72 in 2016 - the year of the last Olympic Games without the sport.

The seaside city of Barcelona is often referred to as the Mecca of skateboarding in Europe, and the trend is particularly notable on the waveramps and bowls of the Marbella skatepark, where skate camps like Damien Chiche's sell out every summer.

"Since 2019, all the media coverage around the Olympics has changed skateboarding, causing a new surge, where every kid wants, thinks, dreams, and believes they can make it in skateboarding," said the 44-year-old Frenchman who has been a skating instructor for 12 years.

Malika Le Roy, 40, was watching her daughter Rosie learn tricks at Chiche's school along with other children who wore helmets and protective pads.

"She is five and a half, and when she saw Sky (Brown, British teenage Olympic skater), that young girl, skating and competing during the Olympics, it gave her a boost of motivation," she said.

Ten-year-old Pablo MaestreMorant, who took a few falls in the bowl only to get up and keep skating, added: "It's embarrassing, but yes, it would be great to be a pro skater one day and make it to the Olympics."

In Barcelona's marble-paved MACBA square, old-school street skateboarders gather and protective gear is nowhere to be seen, contrasting with the Olympic discipline. But most are supportive of its Olympics-inspired popularity.

"It's not you who grasps skateboarding, it’s skateboarding that grasps you... If you want to make it an Olympic sport and try to make it there, good for you. But it's not gonna change the spirit of skating much," said 25-year-old Uruguayan skater Facundo Porro.