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Skater Arisa Trew heading to school and back to the skatepark with a gold medal after arriving home from Paris

There’s only one thing a 14-year-old Olympic gold medallist can do after the Games are done and that’s what’s on Arisa Trew’s mind.

'Emotional all the time now!'

Australia’s youngest gold medallist Arisa Trew is heading straight back to school after revealing she gave up her business class seat “with all the other medallists” on the charter flight home from France to sit with her friends in economy.

The 14-year-old became Australia’s youngest-ever gold medallist after taking out the skateboard park final and declared she wanted to get back to her local park as soon as possible, hoping her achievement inspires her peers to take up the sport.

“For any of them, I just hope that they start skating even now. It doesn’t matter what age you are, just give it a go and have fun and just find a good group of people to do it with and just push yourself and never give up,” Trew said.

“I just love going to school because it’s the skate park where I go to school, so I get to see all my friends that skate, that I skate with every day and train with, my coaches, the teachers.

“Like, it’s just the best thing in the world.”

Gold medallists Saya Sakakibara and Arisa Trew arrive home from Paris. Picture: Rohan Kelly
Gold medallists Saya Sakakibara and Arisa Trew arrive home from Paris. Picture: Rohan Kelly

The returning athletes flew home on a chartered Qantas plane, with business class reserved for the large cohort of medallists, including Trew.

But the schoolgirl chose instead to stay with “my two best friends” to soak up the fun of the long ride home and the arrival in to Sydney.

“Me and my friends are like looking through the window and we’re like, ‘There’s a lot of people down there’,” she said.

“Going to the Olympics was my goal since I was like 11. Watching the last Olympics when skateboarding first got introduced really inspired me.

“To go to the Olympics is crazy and then to win a gold medal was even more crazy.

“I’m so excited to be back and it’s really cool to see all these people around, it’s like knowing Australia is our family.”

Trew is set for an even wilder reception when she makes it from Sydney to her Gold Coast home among a host of Queensland-based athletes set for another plane ride before their Olympic journey finally ends.

Originally published as Skater Arisa Trew heading to school and back to the skatepark with a gold medal after arriving home from Paris

Original URL: https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/sport/olympics/skater-arisa-trew-heading-to-school-and-back-to-the-skatepark-with-a-gold-medal-after-arriving-home-from-paris/news-story/4661051e4a9cee980ca7710f5fd63280