PARIS — Andy Macdonald’s wife had lived in Paris, and when they got married he promised to take her there as often as he could. They went a few years later, when their oldest son was a toddler. That was 15 years ago.
They hadn’t been back. Six weeks ago, he was in Budapest, Hungary, for the final Olympic qualifying event for skateboarding, and FaceTimed his wife back home in Encinitas, California. Says Macdonald: “I told her: ‘Hey, honey, you know how I promised to take you to Paris as often as I could when I married you and I haven’t taken you in 15 years? What do you say I make it up to you and take you to Paris this summer.
’ “She was blank-faced. Didn’t get it at all. Then my little 8-year-old pops her face into the camera and says, ‘Dad, are we going to the Olympics?’ I was like, ‘Yessss!’” Better late than never.
Macdonald turned 51 last week. He’s representing Great Britain in skateboarding’s park event, which is Tuesday for the women and Wednesday for the men in a bowl constructed on the picturesque Place de la Concorde. The 22-man field has seven teenagers.
The other four competitors in Macdonald’s first-round heat are 29, 27, 22 and 17. He’s got a son 2 years older than the other two Team GB skaters, who are both 16. “I’m Uncle Andy,” he says.
But it’s not like he’s a guy who discovered the sport late, or returned after a hiatus, or got some sort of charity spot from an underrepresented country to fill out the field. Macd.