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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Rafqa Touma

‘There are literally girls skating everywhere’: teen Olympians inspire young Australians to hit the skate park

Charlotte Ives, 14, with her skateboard sitting on the edge of a ramp
Charlotte Ives, 14, took up skating this year after watching videos of tricks online. ‘Everything is scary at first,’ she says, but landing a trick is ‘such a relief’. Photograph: James Gourley/The Guardian

Charlotte Ives has spent hours at the skate park four or five days a week trying to land a 50-50 – “which is when you go up the ramp and both your trucks are on it,” she explains. (A truck is the metal T-shaped part that mounts to the underside of the board and has the wheels on it.)

“It is a really simple trick, I think it is basic for most people, but it took me, like, four months to land it,” the 14-year-old tells Guardian Australia. She started skateboarding in January after seeing videos of people doing tricks online.

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