Ask the average 13-year-old what they did at the weekend and they might say hung out with friends, went to the movies or went shopping.
Ask Fay De Fazio Ebert and the Canadian teenager will tell you she went to Chile, participated in the Pan American Games opening ceremony on Friday and won a gold medal in the skateboarding park competition on Sunday.
Yesterday, it was back to Toronto, and classes and homework for Ebert, but certainly not back to normal with the teenager now one of the hot names in what is to be one of the coolest sports at next year’s Paris Olympics.
Photo: AP
There is work ahead, with Ebert still having to qualify for Paris, but her polished performance in Santiago has put her in the spotlight.
Competing with a good-luck feather in her helmet from Richard, one of her two pet ducks, Ebert gave her father the perfect present on his birthday, posting a winning score of 84.66 points to grab gold ahead of Brazil’s Raicca Ventura on 82.54 and American Bryce Wettstein (79.95).
“I was pumped I got podium, but I was like: ‘Ah, I just want to land my full run and have fun and smile,’” Ebert said. “I can’t find words to explain how exciting it was.”
Even in a sport packed with young talent, the diminutive Ebert stands out.
Introduced to skateboarding at eight years old after spotting an offer for free lessons during a school holiday, Ebert excelled and narrowly missed out on making Canada’s 2021 Olympic team.
However, she is on course for a Paris spot where the competition could include fellow teenagers Briton Sky Brown, the Tokyo bronze medal winner, and Japan’s silver medalist Kokona Hiraki, both 15.
“This has been a very, very good experience for me,” said Ebert, who told her mother when she was in first grade that she wanted to compete in the Olympics. “This experience was like: ‘Oh the Olympics is going to be similar to this.’ So cool, it makes me very excited.”
A fearless dynamo known for her power and speed in the bowl, Ebert has a reputation for embracing pressure, even thriving off it, but pressure and attention are two different things and Ebert would be returning home to the spotlight and plenty of demands on her time.
Back in Toronto, she would no longer be just another skater at the Beaches skateboard park, but a Pan Am Games gold medalist.
Her mother, Elisabeth De Fazio, said that would not be a problem for her down-to-earth daughter.
“It’s going to be the same,” said De Fazio, who travels to competitions with her daughter. “All the skaters, they’ve known her for years. They all love her. She skates with 50 year olds, she skates with 10 year olds. She’s always kept it really humble.”
“We don’t want to pressure her because she’s still a kid,” she said. “She’s 13, she has friends, she’s in school. She has a life.”
ADVANTAGE ATLETICO: Well off the pace in La Liga, the Copa del Rey represents Atletico Madrid’s best chance of silverware this season Atletico Madrid on Thursday hammered Copa del Rey holders Barcelona 4-0 in the first leg of their semi-final. After an Eric Garcia own-goal sent Diego Simeone’s side ahead early on, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez struck to give Atletico a landslide lead by halftime. Barca defender Garcia was sent off in the final stages, with Atletico maintaining their significant advantage on the record 32-time winners, which they take into the second leg at the Camp Nou on March 3. Both sides missed good chances in the second half, with Barca’s Pau Cubarsi having a goal disallowed before Garcia was sent off
Stade Rennais, four days after firing coach Habib Beye, stunned Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 on Friday, snapping the defending champions’ seven-match winning run in French Ligue 1. Second-placed RC Lens could leapfrog the champions and retake top spot last night after press time if they beat Paris FC in the capital. PSG started brightly, with Ousmane Dembele and Desire Doue carving openings to no avail. Rennes fired Beye on Monday and promoted his assistant Sebastien Tambouret, and the same players who had lost four games on the bounce seemed transformed. Jordanian forward Mousa al-Tamari bagged the opener, unleashing a fierce strike
Dasun Shanaka hammered the fastest half-century by a Sri Lankan in T20Is as the cohosts thrashed Oman by 105 runs at the World Cup yesterday in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, for their second win in Group B. The 2014 champions piled up 225-5, the highest total of the tournament, before restricting an outclassed Oman to 120-9. The 43-year-old Mohammad Nadeem waged a lone battle for Oman, compiling an unbeaten 53 to become the oldest player to score a 50 in T20 World Cups. Having promoted himself up the order and under pressure to deliver, Sri Lanka skipper Shanaka smashed a 19-ball half-century. It has been
Manchester City FC halved Arsenal FC’s lead at the top of the Premier League with a 3-0 home defeat of Fulham FC, and Aston Villa FC stayed in the frame with a late 1-0 victory at home to Brighton and Hove Albion FC on Wednesday. Nottingham Forest FC squandered a chance to put some distance between themselves and the bottom three as they drew 0-0 at home to bottom club Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. Second-from-bottom Burnley FC pulled off a remarkable 3-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace FC to boost their slender survival hopes. City have little margin for error in their pursuit
RSS