Olympic skater Kieran Woolley certainly made an impact during one of his runs in the men’s park event at Tokyo 2020.
Woolley, 17, was tipped to be a potential medal star for Australia in this sport before the Games even got underway. The teenage sensation is one of many taking part in this new feature at the Summer Olympics and even though some question whether or not it should even be taking place, others were just excited to see what it was going to look like.
Skateboarding definitely feels like a sport for the young as we saw with Great Britain’s Sky Brown who won a bronze at the age of 13, but unfortunately for Woolley, he was unable to reach the podium after finishing fifth in the final. Instead, his fellow countryman Keegan Palmer won the gold with an insane score of 95.83 in his last run.
Yet despite Palmer securing the victory, many are focusing on Woolley after he collided with a cameraman in a pretty substantial way.
Ultimately, though, good faith prevailed with a fist bump mending fences between the two gentlemen.
Camera operators tend to put themselves in the line of fire in most sports but with regards to skateboarding, you’d have to imagine they’re really going all out for their craft. After all, one bad knock whilst holding a camera that big could lead to quite a nasty injury if you’re not expecting it.
The good news is that nothing of the sort happened with Kieran Woolley living to fight another day in this fascinating skateboarding landscape. Sure, he didn’t have a medal around his neck when it was all said and done, but he’ll likely be back for Paris 2024.
Plus, even if he isn’t, this is definitely a story to tell the grandkids one day.
Featured image credit: Getty