10 minutes read

It’s a long road to the Olympics so one can only assume most Olympians have inspiring journeys and a few stories to tell. Here are some interesting facts about our favorite Canadian skateboard athletes.

1- Andy Anderson’s priority is not winning.

Not that he will not try to win but Andy has a stronger desire to contribute to skateboarding than to beat anyone else. He recently said in an interview with a CBC journalist that it is up to the judges to decide who will win according to very precise criteria. One of the criteria is progression over perfection so a new trick should obtain a better score than a trick that has been seen before despite a perfect form. As we have seen Andy during his qualification runs he was so creative and despite him not winning a medal, it is certain that he inspired a ton of skaters and made many new fans.

2- Micky Papa’s ninja bandana

The story of Micky Papa’s headband is really cool. We all heard the gear talk and despite the fact that the leaf on the Canadian uniform looked a bit like a sweat mark it could have been worse. Have you seen the transparent clothes of the triathlon Norwegian winner? Back to Micky Papa and his headgear. He reported that the piece of clothes was given to him by a real ninja during a visit to a Japanese temple where there were ninjas. The real term for the item is Hachimaki and so he decided to wear it during his qualification run. It might have helped him get the excellent score of 9.22 of his last trick (nollie backside 180 nosegrind to regular on the big handrail) but it was not enough for him to get into finals.

 

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Une publication partagée par Micky Papa (@micky_papa)

3- Annie Guglia had slept twelve hours in four days before to skate the Olympics

Annie Guglia is happy about her Olympic experience in Tokyo and she has expressed it on her social media platforms. She was so busy writing history that she had less time to sleep. All jokes aside, she does not suffer from insomnia nor decided to party all night before the Olympics. The Olympic call simply came in at the very last minute when Candy Jacobs was put aside for testing positive to the virus whose name should not be pronounced. That placed Annie as first replacement so she had to fly in without any guarantee to participate. When the skater for South Africa hurt herself during the practice Annie was then called to participate in the first ever women street event in the Olympics. All of this happened really fast so with the 16 hours time difference, the jetlag and the short notice she had very little time for sleep. Let’s just say that she really deserved to skate the Olympics since she was qualified for a very long time until the very last qualification event where she lost a few points and lost her place among the top 20 in the world. All of this made her wear a helmet because of her physical condition but also the impressive size of the obstacles.

 

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Une publication partagée par Annie Guglia (@nnieguglia)

4. Matt Berger apologized

Matt Berger apologized to the fans who might have been disappointed by his performance in a long text published on his instagram page. He explains that a lot of factors come into play to “make or break” a day during a contest and sadly on the day of the Olympics it was not the best day for him. He apologizes but also affirms how he learned from the experience and is determined to come back stronger. The comment section of this post must have been a little compensation to his despair because he received tons of support and love from his fans and fellow Canadians. We totally agree with all the positive things people had to say about him because on all the occasions he showed up for JACKALOPE he was a classy and kind gentleman and an absolute beast on the board.

Anyway, we can not accept your apologies Matt because you have nothing to be forgiven for.

 

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Une publication partagée par Matt Berger (@mattberger_)

5- The three Canadian skaters all come from the same area of the country

Andy Anderson is 25 years old and comes from White Rock very close to Vancouver, Matt Berger is 27 and grew up in Kamloops, BC while Micky Papa is 31 and grew up in Burnaby also very close from Vancouver. They all come from beautiful British-Columbia and have a small age difference. Micky and Matt were very active in the Canadian scene from their youth with appearances in Underworld skateshop videos and participation in numerous contests like Am Getting Paid. They all came to enter the  JACKALOPE skateboard competition and we recently followed Andy for a few days during our West Coast Tour. One of the reasons these guys are among the best skaters in the world is probably because of the infrastructure and the events where they grew up. The numerous concrete skateparks around Vancouver were already there 20 years ago so it can only be good. Luckily, the whole country is seeing more and more concrete skateparks being built so we can soon hope to see elite skaters from all around Canada. One thing is for sure JACKALOPE will keep inspiring all the skaters and future Olympians.

6- Big brains in the Olympics

A couple of the women who participate in the Olympics have a promising career beside their pro skater life/career. Our Canadian representative Annie Guglia is a master in marketing and specialized in the skateboard industry so with her experience and her academic accomplishments we can assume she is going to do just fine. She is also very involved in her community and an amazing content creator on social media so if you don’t follow her yet you should.  The french skater Charlotte Hym is a neuroscience doctorate and studies the effect of the voice of mothers on their newborns. Can we say “Life hammer”? Another great lady and great mind from the top 20 is Alexis Sablone who is an architect and already designed a very unique and amazing skate plaza in Sweden. We can’t wait to see what else she will design.

There is so much to say about these amazing human beings and you can count on us to follow and join the action. It is assured that we will see more of Annie, Andy, Micky and Matt before the next Olympics. Keep your eye open and follow us for more content.