Fewer than 10 child athletes will head to Paris. Ruby is one of them

Ruby Trew was six when she competed in her first international competition. At 10, she beat grown women to world championship silver. She hoped to compete at the Tokyo Games when she was 12, but COVID derailed her plans. Now, at 15, she’s finally an Olympian.

In skateboarding years, that’s middle-aged.

She’s not the youngest on the women’s team; there are two 14-year-olds, and the oldest is 20. She has spent a decade intensely focusing on two sports (she hopes to one day become an Olympic surfer, too). Trew’s life became very serious, very quickly.

Students at Narrabeen Sports High farewell classmate Ruby Trew, 15, who is heading to the Olympics. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

But for a few hours on Wednesday, she was back to being a normal(ish) kid again as her classmates at Narrabeen Sports High on Sydney’s northern beaches held a celebratory assembly and then clapped her to the gate, wishing their girl well for her extraordinary adventure.

Trew was back in adolescence with a thud. The year 10 boys were told off for excessive exuberance, the girls enveloped her in emotional hugs, and the principal fretted about whether students would behave in front of the television cameras.

She was thrilled. “I feel so loved by everyone,” she said. “It’s crazy.”

For Trew, who has been competing in qualifying events around the world this year to cement her berth in Paris, school is a dose of normality. She went straight to class after returning from a competition in California this week.

“Training is so hard, and when I go to school, it’s almost like free time,” she told the assembly.

The kid who cut her teeth at Mona Vale Skate Bowl will compete in park skating, an elaborate version of a council skate park.

She will be up against fellow Australian Arisa Trew (no relation), a 14-year-old from Cairns, who is a strong medal chance after making history this year by becoming the first woman to ever land a two-and-a-half turn aerial spin.

Their close friend, Chloe Covell, also 14, could become Australia’s youngest-ever gold medallist if she wins her street skating event, breaking a record set by swimmer Sandra Morgan in 1956.

Fewer than 10 child athletes will be representing Australia in Paris; the skate team will contribute most of them.

Like many of her teammates, Ruby Trew has been skating since she was five. As a preschooler, she showed such skill and speed on her scooter that her father and coach, James, bought a board to keep up with her.

She purloined it, dumped ballet and gymnastics lessons, and skated off to stardom. By age 10, she was hailed as a two-sport prodigy.

“I never expected to have a daughter who’s an Olympian skateboarder,” said James Trew.

His daughter loves it: the fun offsets the stress. “Feeling free in the bowl, going in the air, is an amazing feeling,” she said.

The team will also include Tokyo park gold medallist Keegan Palmer, who has been dogged by injuries. “I keep smoking my knees,” he said.

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