The 13-year-old trying to break an Olympic record set in 1956

Chloe Covell has been skateboarding for half her life.

It’s not many years when you consider she’s just 13 years old, but in that time the Gold Coast teenager has become an X-Games gold medallist and is world No.4 in the street skating rankings.

Chloe Covell wants to be the youngest Australian to win an Olympic gold medal.Credit: Steven Siewert

Now, she’s eyeing off a spot on the Olympic team where she’s hoping to become Australia’s youngest gold medallist, a record currently held by swimmer Sandra Morgan, who won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1956 Games in Melbourne.

“I was exactly 14 years and 6 months the day I won my gold medal, but it was a real struggle to be put on the team because I had to keep time trialling and time trialling because they said I was too young,” Morgan told this masthead.

“I didn’t know until virtually the day before that I would be in that 4x100m relay [team]. Even one of the Australian officials said to me as I was walking up the deck to have the swim, ‘this is on your head’, so it did put a lot of pressure on the fact that I was young, but I think because I had a team around me, I think that made a big difference.”

Morgan was “virtually unknown” at the beginning of 1956, but she caught the eye of swimming officials after winning the Australian junior championships. After months of training, and pushback because of her age, she had an Olympic gold medal after the team swam a world record time to beat the United States.

Sandra Morgan with the gold medal she won at the 1956 Games in Melbourne.Credit: Rhett Wyman

Morgan was the third swimmer on the relay team, following Dawn Fraser and Faith Leech, before Lorraine Crapp swam the final lap.

For Covell, her age is not an anomaly. Female skate competitions are dominated by teenage prodigies who picked up a board as the sport became more accessible for women.

The three athletes ranked above Covell are 16-year-old Rayssa Leal from Brazil, who won silver at the Tokyo Olympics, 16-year-old Momiji Nishiya from Japan, who won gold in Tokyo, and 17-year-old Yumeka Oda, also from Japan.

Olympic gold became the dream for Covell after her X Games win in Ventura last year.

“When I did my first few international professional comps I just kind of knew that I had enough skill level to be up there with all the other girls,” Covell said.

“And when I won the first comp in Ventura, my first gold medal, that’s when things started really to get better and better. I then won two more golds later on in that year and two other competitions.

“After I won those golds I was just like, okay, now hopefully I can just go to the Olympics and get the gold.”

Covell has three more international competitions before athletes are selected for Paris, beginning with Dubai in February, before the top 40 athletes compete in China and Hungary. Afterwards, the top 20 skaters will qualify for Paris, with a cap of three athletes per country.

Teenage skating sensation Chloe Covell is closing in on her Olympic dream.Credit: Brook Mitchell

“I just hope to do my best and just throw down as big and as many tricks as I can and hopefully walk away with the gold medal,” Covell said.

“But a lot of hard work comes with that, and I’ll just have to keep progressing.”

Morgan has some advice for the skating star: savour the experience, enjoy being part of the Australian team, and don’t let it go to your head.

“I suppose you would say to her that you just keep your eyes fixed on the goal,” Morgan said.

“There’s lots of other stuff that can pull you down ... she’s just got to keep her eyes fixed on what she wants to do.”

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