Trew Beauty: The Far North skateboard star ollying her way to the Olympics

An Aussie teen is defying gravity and melting minds with one awesome trick.

A Cairns-born teenage skateboarder is shredding her way to the Paris Olympics, replicating legend Tony Hawk’s gravity defying feats on her fluorescent pink checkerboard deck along the way.

Medal favourite Arisa Trew’s first trick was a tail stall when she was just eight years old.

Arisa Trew practices before the Women's Skateboard Park Final during X Games Ventura 2024 at Ventura County Fairgrounds and Event Center on June 30, 2024 in California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

To complete the feat, a skateboarder rolls up to the edge of a ramp, rests the tip of their board at the top then descends back into the slope with abandon.

“I think I started just because I was surfing a lot,” the now 14-year-old, who grew up mostly on the Gold Coast, said.

“Then, one year the ocean got cold, so my dad took me to the park instead.”

Arisa Trew holds both her gold medals after competing in the Women’s Skateboard Vert Final during X Games Ventura 2024. Picture: RONALD MARTINEZ / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Since then, the current world no. 2 has changed the sport.

Last year she made history when she landed a 720, two full rotations in the air, in the United States, becoming the first female to land the manoeuvre in a competition.

Less than 12 months later, Trew outdid herself again, deftly completing a 900-degree spin on a half-pipe in yet another first that prompted praise from the man who first made the move famous.

“Arisa Trew just became the first female to land a 900,” Hawk wrote to his almost nine million Instagram followers in May.

“Glass ceilings are so 2023. Congrats.”

Australia’s number one park skateboarder Arisa Trew, 14, won the Paris Olympic qualifying event in Budapest on June 24, 2024. Photo: Jacquelin Magnay

Coach Trevor Ward, who runs a skateboarding academy on the Gold Coast, knew the prodigiously talented Trew was destined for greatness

“When we opened the academy a couple of years ago I said to her parents, ‘Just give me a year and I think she could be a generational talent’,” the former top 10 pro skateboarder said.

“They trusted me and the rest is history. She’s outdoing herself all the time. Arisa is doing stuff that no-one else has done before.”

Australia's Arisa Trew falls as she competes during the Skateboarding Women's Park Final of the Olympic Qualifier Series 2024 in Budapest, Hungary on June 23, 2024. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

While natural athletic gifts are valuable, Ward said his young pupil’s greatest asset is her mind.

“It’s about her personality,” he said.

“She’s one of those people who just keeps going.

“She skates both ways really well, regular stance and goofy and she’s got a high tolerance to pain. There are barely any tears (when she hurts herself).

“She’s had some gnarly scrapes but no broken bones yet.”

Trew, who trains four-to-seven hours a day, said the thought of inspiring more Far North girls to attempt an “ollie” of their own, inspires her to keep training.

“My parents lived there (in Cairns) for 20 years,” she said.

“(To win gold) would be my biggest dream. I’m going to try my best. I think it would definitely get more girls skateboarding.

“There are a lot of younger girls shredding right now. That makes it more fun too.”

Trew will head to Paris just prior to the start of the Games.

Originally published as Trew Beauty: The Far North skateboard star ollying her way to the Olympics