Keegan Palmer goes back to back to win skateboard gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Such was skateboarder Keegan Palmer’s cool under pressure, when Snoop Dogg arrived on skate bowl deck, the now Olympic two-time champion just had to get a snap of the rapper – mid-final. It didn’t stop him from winning gold.
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Keegan Palmer was so far on top of everyone and everything that midway through his gold medal charge he grabbed his camera and started filming Snoop Dogg.
Palmer, 21, is not simply the most gifted Olympic skateboarder of all but the coolest kid on the block as well.
Australia’s incredible skateboarding prince became an instant legend of his blossoming sport when he pocketed his second Olympic gold medal to go with the one he snatched when skateboarding was on debut at Tokyo three years ago.
It means he is the only person to win the event and here’s the sad news for rivals – he reckons he is four years from his peak. And, just to make them totally miserable, has at least four more tricks up his sleeve.
If Palmer was ecstatic at pocketing another gold he seemed just as excited at seeing Snoop Dogg swagger in early in the skate park event at La Concorde.
“Oh, bro, it was crazy,’’ Palmer said.
“I saw him after I landed my first run, I pulled out my camera and had to start filming it after I landed my first run.’’
Palmer thinks he will be at his peak at the Los Angeles Olympics and then revealed he is determined to push on for Brisbane where he will be the ripe old age of 29.
“I think I’ll be even stronger, healthier, have new tricks, you know, like those tricks in the contest that I wanted to do that no one has seen …,” he said.
“I just have to make sure I keep up with the younger generation. At 25 I will definitely be in my prime. It’s going to be wild. I can’t believe this. I’m speechless.“
Palmer schooled his rivals who were so conscious of the high standards he would set that six of his seven opponents fell in the first round before he had competed as they snatched at a freak score they felt they would need.
Palmer gave Australia its second skateboarding gold in as many days after 14 year old Arisa Trew’s win in the women’s park final.
As Palmer put it: “We’re the king and queen of skateboarding park right now. We both grew up in the same town, so Gold Coast is holding it down right now.”
A super-slick Palmer crushed the field in his first round, posting an exceptional 93.11 which was never bettered despite strong competition from the US’s Tom Schaar, his boyhood mate, who finished with 92.23.
Had his score been beaten and, Palmer admitted “I had four extra tricks I wanted to do in the last round.’’
Palmer broke his left knee this earlier year and then in a second separate incident tore the meniscus in his right knee. In a sport where flexibility is gold, it messed with his mojo.
When he injured his right he was “stressing” so much he delayed a doctor’s trip just hoping it would “go away” by itself.
It didn’t but after seeking specialised treatment from the Queensland Academy of Sport he recovered. “It’s definitely been a long road,” Palmer said.
But worth every step.
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Originally published as Keegan Palmer goes back to back to win skateboard gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics
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