2021 Olympic Games: Aussie skateboarding star Shane O’Neill ready to take Tokyo by storm
After teaming with Nike to develop a signature shoe, Shane O’Neill is now looking to take Tokyo by storm when skateboarding makes its Olympic debut in July.
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As skateboarding prepares to make its Olympic bow in Tokyo, Aussie star Shane O’Neill can’t wait to showcase his talents to the world.
As the nation’s top ranked male street skater, O’Neill, 31, has high hopes for Tokyo.
“Gold would be cool, it would be the first time as a skateboarder I will be competing for anything other than myself,” he said.
“To bring home a medal for your country would be cool, I’m looking forward to it.
“I never planned for the sport to be in the Olympics in all my years of skateboarding. It’s crazy.”
Three other Aussie skaters - Keegan Palmer, 18, Poppy Starr Olsen, 21, and Hayley Wilson, 19 - have also qualified.
Medals will be up for grabs across the disciplines of street and park for both men and women.
O’Neill, a former world champion, grew up in Werribee and Glenroy in Melbourne’s western suburbs and as a teenager took public transport to skate with friends in the CBD.
He said there has been a significant shift in his time within the sport as athletes do anything they can to get ahead.
“Skateboarding is so big now, there is a huge athletic and health aspect to everything,” O’Neill said.
“There definitely has been a switch when it comes to the seriousness in how people take it. There are a lot of people interested in the competitions.”
O’Neill is so influential within the sport that Nike partnered with him in 2020 to develop ‘the Shane’ — a signature skateboarding shoe.
“It’s the biggest achievement in my career,” he said.
“Getting a shoe with Nike is near impossible.”
Like many athletes, he knows Tokyo is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“After the year we have had in 2020, the fact that these Games are happening is pretty incredible,” he said.
“It will be very interesting having such a large contest broadcast to the world, but with no spectators. It will be a different experience to previous Olympic Games.”
He hopes the Olympics will shine a positive light on the sport and encourage more of his countrymen to take it up.
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