Paris 2024: Youngest Canadian athlete could be 14 years old

Most teenagers spend their summer vacation at camp or with friends. Fay De Fazio Ebert could spend her money representing Canada on the world stage.

The 14-year-old was one of four athletes named to Canada’s Olympic skateboarding squad, as Canada Skateboard and the Canadian Olympic Committee announced their selections on Wednesday.

The four athletes were selected based on their performances in global skateboarding events over the past two years, including last weekend’s Olympic Qualifier Series in Budapest, Hungary.

At 14, Toronto native De Fazio Elbert could be the youngest athlete in Canada’s Paris 2024 delegation. She won the gold medal in the women’s park at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Canada’s first medal in skateboarding at the event.

Team Canada’s Fay De Fazio Ebert celebrates her gold medal performance in Women’s Park Skateboarding at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile on Oct. 22, 2023. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

“It has a big impact that so many excellent Canadian skateboarders are heading to Paris in 2024. We lack high-level skateboard training facilities in the country,” De Fazio Ebert said in a press release. “Still, it’s great to see us as a team, as individuals, continuing to do our best on this international stage.”

The last 14-year-old to compete for Canada at the Summer Olympics was Summer McIntosh, who finished fourth in the 400m freestyle at Tokyo 2020. Since then, she has become a four-time world aquatics champion and holds the world record in the women’s 400-meter individual medley.

The other three athletes included in the Canadian Olympic skateboarding group are Matt Berger of Kamloops, BC, Ryan Decenzo of Delta, BC, and Cordano Russell of London, Ont. Of the four selections, only Berger has previous Olympic experience, having competed in the men’s street event at Tokyo 2020. His best result on the world stage was sixth place at the 2021 World Skateboarding Championships.

Adam Higgins, high performance director of Canada Skateboard, praised the athletes for how hard they have worked to get to this point.

“This qualifying period began in June 2022. The dedication required to reach this point has been incredibly demanding,” Higgins said in the press release. “These four skateboarders have continued to push and progress, and now they have the honor of representing skateboarding and Canada on the Olympic stage.”

The men’s street skateboarding event will take place on July 27, while the women’s event will take place on August 6.