‘I shut down my business for my skater girl’: Former rugby winger’s sacrifice for Olympic dream
Former NRL star Luke Covell has revealed the lengths he has gone to help support 14-year-old daughter Chloe in her pursuit of history in Paris.
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Sacrifice is easy to find at an Olympic Games.
The Covell’s have their story too.
Teenage skateboard sensation Chloe Covell will take two fractured fingers into the games as she strives to become Australia’s youngest gold medal winner if she wins in Paris.
“That would be amazing, but I also want to inspire younger girls to skate and hopefully women’s skating gets bigger and bigger,’’ the 14-year-old said.
Forever standing beside Covell is her father, coach and chaperone, Luke.
The former Wests Tigers and Cronulla Sharks NRL winger retired from rugby league after 153 first-grade games in 2010.
Far from the fastest winger to have played the game, Covell won his coaches over as a meticulous trainer, terrific under a high ball, clever at reading the game and a prolific goalkicker.
Covell still ranks as the Sharks third highest-point scorer behind Steve and Mat Rogers.
He started his own plumbing business almost as soon as he played his last game for the Sharks.
That was until last Christmas, when due to Chloe’s stunning 2023 results and trajectory towards Paris, he decided to close his business down.
“It’s probably the commitment that any parent would make if you’ve got this opportunity, right?,” Luke said.
“You try to give your kids every opportunity as long as they are willing to make the most of it.
“I try to tell Chloe that we might have to miss a comp and she would rather walk on broken glass.
“She wants to compete in everything and so the only way to compete in everything is for me or her mum (Julie) to be with her.
“We knew that this year was going to be more hectic than last year with getting time off and it got to a point where it was pointless to hold onto the business.
“Before this all started, we busted our arses to pick up what we could, and cover what the sponsors couldn’t.
“We’re to the point now that she’s luckily well sponsored and we’re so grateful for that.”
Covell was five when her dad would walk alongside his little girl, ready to catch her fall, as she rolled along on a skateboard.
In less than two years, Covell had the confidence to launch her tiny frame from metre-high concrete slabs at her local Tweed Heads skate park.
“Chloe would’ve been six or seven and we were just the taxi drivers to the skate park, really,” Luke said.
The youngest women’s street gold medallist in X Games history earlier this year, Covell is living the dream of every teenager.
Australian swimmer Sandra Morgan was 14 years and six months old when she won gold at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Born on February 9, 2010, Covell can surpass Morgan’s record by winning gold in Paris on Sunday night (AEST).
The smiling assassin, who only has Wednesday’s off her skateboard, may be young, but she understands the sacrifice that has got her here.
“To have my whole family with me (including older sister Jayla) and supporting me, I just wouldn’t be here without them,” Covell said.
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Originally published as ‘I shut down my business for my skater girl’: Former rugby winger’s sacrifice for Olympic dream
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