Chloe Covell is looking on the bright side and counting down the days to Los Angeles 2028 after missing out on an Olympic medal in the street skateboarding final in Paris.
The 14-year-old’s bid to become the youngest Australian to win gold unravelled when she did not land any of her five tricks and finished last.
She was in tears midway through the medal round and only briefly spoke to reporters, but what she did say could prove the making of her.
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“I tried my best and I just couldn’t land much. But it’s all good,” Covell said.
“I just wanted to keep trying and not give up.
“It was very hard work to get here … I just have to come back better and stronger for the next time.”
Japan’s Coco Yoshizawa won the gold medal with her total score of 272.75, beating compatriot Liz Akama’s 265.95.
Brazilian Rayssa Leal backed up her Tokyo Olympics silver medal with a bronze in Paris, scoring 253.37.
Fox had been on the back foot before the tricks after scoring 70.33 from her two runs in the medal round.
The capacity crowd, which featured skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, Hollywood legend Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban, tried to encourage Covell with raucous cheers as she kept falling — but to no avail.
Covell’s father, former NRL player Luke Covell, was on hand to embrace his daughter on the course, before further shielding her by taking over media duties.
He said he was impossibly proud of his daughter for not giving up, having also struggled in a first round where she rallied to qualify fourth.
“It’s not always someone’s day,” Luke said.
“We knew if you wanted to go for a medal, that you just had to go for it.
“She did her best, it wasn’t her day, I’m just glad she backed herself and didn’t take the easy option.”
Covell was wearing a finger splint on her left hand but her dad said it was “definitely not” a factor.
He added it was no surprise that there were so many falls in the final.
“When you get to the Olympic final, no one remembers who comes fourth,” he said.
“All the girls were going for their best tricks.”
Australians Liv Lovelace and Haylie Powell both missed out on spots in a final where the ages ranged from 14 to just 19.
– with AAP