This 14-Year-Old Olympic Skateboarding Champ Won A Pet Duck... Oh, And A Gold Medal
This is also a cautionary tale to parents who make big promises about pets.
If you’re anything like us, you’ve been glued to all the wholesome Olympics content coming out for the past two weeks. You also, at some point in your life, probably have had your kids beg for a pet in exchange for completing some household chore (no, you can’t get a bunny for keeping your room clean all summer vacation).
Well, 14-year-old Olympic skateboarder Arisa Trew might have a better pitch for a pet than the average kid. The teen won gold in women’s park skateboarding on Tuesday, earning her the title of the youngest Olympic medalist in history for her home nation of Australia.
What better prize than a gold medal? Well, perhaps the pet Trew had long begged her parents for — a duck.
“My parents promised if I won the gold medal I would get a pet duck,” the gold medalist told Australian network Nine. “Because they are really cute, then I can take it on walks and take it to the skate park.”
Sounds like a good reason to me!
Trew’s parents did have some reasonable guidelines when it came to choosing what kind of pet she would have.
“My parents definitely wouldn’t let me get a dog or a cat because we are traveling so much right now,” she explained.
See, kids — even Olympians have to make sure they can handle the full responsibility of a pet.
Trew’s parents did not hold back when expressing their pride for their champion daughter.
“We can’t believe it. It’s crazy, crazy, absolutely crazy,” said her dad, Simon Trew, in an interview with Nine.
As for where she got her skill from, Simon joked “me,” before going on to explain, “It’s just going out and having fun and enjoying the sport and, yeah, just being active and having a good time.”
"That’s all we’ve ever encouraged her to do. Have friends and enjoy skating, surfing, everything,” he continued.
In fact, Trew’s friends, classmates from Australian skateboarding academy Level Up, had an adorable plan to watch her win gold.
“They all slept over at the skateboard park and watched me and had a sleepover there, which is really cool,” Trew said.
“She’s amazing, she’s been working towards this for so long,” said one of Arisa’s classmates. “When she landed her run, we went ballistic, our blowout mattresses were in the air... we were so hyped it was crazy.”
Hopefully Trew’s classmates will get the chance to meet her new pet duck soon, and maybe even catch a glimpse of her gold medal.
