Chloe’s friends have gone back to school. She’s skating along the Champs-Elysees

Paris: While most teenagers are back at school, Chloe Covell picked up her board and skated along the most famous avenue in Paris, the Champs-Elysees, on Monday.

The diminutive Australian, with her long, blonde locks, was dwarfed by the city’s iconic apartments as she coasted along the footpath, past cafes set with wicker chairs, and Metro stations.

Australian skateboarder Chloe Covell in front of the Arc de Triomphe.Credit: Eddie Jim

At the foot of the Arc de Triomphe, she rolled around for the cameras – capturing the imagination of one 10-year-old French girl who has been inspired to pick up a skateboard.

Covell, 14, has spent plenty of time in Europe for competitions. But Paris has been eye-opening, even for this young woman of the world, as she takes in the scale of the Olympics and the sights of the Olympic village (she is not sleeping there as she is under 18, and must stay in a hotel with a chaperone).

Covell, 14, isn’t sleeping in the athletes’ village because she is too young.Credit: Getty Images

“I’m definitely a little nervous because it’s like the biggest stage I guess, the biggest competition, and there’s like just famous people walking around everywhere, but [I’m] also very excited,” she said, citing tennis stars among the athletes who have particularly caught her attention (she missed a visit to the village by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday morning, local time).

Australia will field one of the biggest skateboarding teams in Paris. The nine athletes range from Arisa Trew, who is also 14 and a few months younger than Covell, to 34-year-old Shane O’Neill.

Covell is a strong chance of a medal in the street skating event – she might be Australia’s youngest gold medal winner, although Trew may break that record again in the second week – and says the fact she is nursing two fractured fingers from an accident a few weeks ago won’t hamper her performance (street skaters don’t grab their boards).

She will compete on Sunday – day two of the Games – alongside Olivia Lovelace and Haylie Powell. O’Neill will compete on Saturday. The park skating event is in the second week.

The street skaters were given an image of their course a few weeks ago but will see it for the first time on Monday afternoon, local time. They get limited opportunity to practise before their event. “Every course is different,” said O’Neill. “The size is different. The dimensions and angles are different.”

They’re nervous, says O’Neill, but the nerves fade away when they begin to skate. As an elder of the team, he had no advice for Covell. “I think she has it covered, honestly she does,” he said. “As soon as she gets going, it’s business as usual.”

For Olympics news, results and expert analysis sent daily throughout the Games, sign up for our Sport newsletter.