Canada’s youngest athlete at the Paris 2024 Olympics could be a 14-year-old skateboarder

Most teenagers spend their summer vacations at camp or with friends. Fay De Fazio Ebert could be spending hers representing Canada on the world stage.

The 14-year-old was one of four athletes named to Canada’s Olympic skateboarding group, as Canada Skateboard and the Canadian Olympic Committee revealed their choices 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, De Fazio Elbert, a native of Toronto, could be the youngest athlete in Canada’s Paris 2024 delegation. She won the gold medal in women’s park at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, 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 makes a big impact having so many outstanding Canadian skateboarders headed to Paris 2024. We lack high-level skateboarding training facilities in the country,” De Fazio Ebert said in a press release. “Yet, to see us as a team, as individuals, push through and skateboard our best on this international scene is amazing.”

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

The other three athletes named to Canada’s Olympic skateboarding group include Matt Berger from Kamloops, B.C., Ryan Decenzo of Delta, B.C., and Cordano Russell of London, Ont. Of the four selections, only Berger has previous Olympic experience, competing at the men’s street event in Tokyo 2020. His best finish on the world stage was sixth at the 2021 World Skateboard Championships.

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

“This qualification period began back in June 2022, the dedication required to get to this point has been incredibly demanding,” Higgins said in the press release. “These four skateboarders have kept pushing and progressing, and now they have the honour of representing skateboarding and Canada on the Olympic stage.”

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