Paris, Aug 7 (AP) It didn't matter to 51-year-old Andy Macdonald that he was among the lower-ranked finishers in the men's park skateboarding competition at the Paris Olympics. He still considers himself a winner “People are like: Are you going for the gold?' And I'm like: If they're giving away gold medals for whoever has the most fun, I got it wrapped up,'" Macdonald said Wednesday. "I definitely won the gold medal for most fun.
” Macdonald made history as the oldest skateboarder to compete in the Olympics. He turned pro in 1994, is a nine-time world champion and an X Games veteran who is representing Britain in Paris. Andy Mac and 49-year-old South African Dallas Oberholzer are the older guys in a men's Olympic competition where the youngest entrant is 16-year-old Viktor Solmunde of Denmark.
Macdonald finished 18th of 22 starters with a respectable 77.66. Oberholzer, a mostly gray-bearded traveler whose skateboarding odyssey has left him broke, was last with a best score of 33.
83. The two-time Olympian, who also placed last in Tokyo, was still proud of his day. It was his personal best score, and his mother was there to watch him skate for the first time in 28 years.
“My mom's accepted that I'm an Olympian and a skateboarder at the same time,” he said. “So that's my greatest accomplishment." Oberholzer got a nice ovation from the crowd when he completed what he calls his “one big trick” Wednesday in the prelims.
Macdonald was a fan favorite and the crowd, incl.