American skateboarder Tom Schaar was only 12 years old when he became the first person to land a 1080 on a mega ramp. Now, 12 years later at the age of 24, he became the first American to win Olympic silver in men’s skateboard park.
At this trajectory, we can't wait to see what Schaar will achieve another 12 years down the line in 2036.
“I'll just lay low until I'm 36. Just see what happens then,” Schaar told NBCOlympics.com of his future plans. “I’m just kidding. I'm just going to keep skating and just try and enjoy it. I'm working on a lot of videos and kind of projects right now. I've been very excited about that… It's kind of just the start. I got a lot ahead.”
If this year's Olympic competition was any indication, Schaar still has a promising future ahead of him. Longtime skateboarders Dallas Oberholzer of South Africa and Andy Macdonald of Great Britain dropped into the Olympic semifinal with Schaar this week, ages 49 and 51, respectively. Oberholzer and Macdonald are living proof that older athletes can still rip it in the park — and that Schaar could hope to see another six Olympics.
Even if his Olympic journey were to end in Paris, though, the rewards of his long perseverance have already come to fruition with a silver medal.
After narrowly missing out on the third and last American quota spot for the Tokyo Games three years ago, Schaar had his eyes locked on Paris.
“I was bummed that I missed out on the Tokyo one,” Schaar said. “So I kind of tried to … put a little bit more pressure on myself to try and make this team and just tried to focus on that.”
Schaar fought tooth and nail at both Olympic Qualifier Series events in Shanghai and Budapest this year. Ultimately, he needed to place at least second at the Budapest event in June to knock fellow American skateboarder Jagger Eaton out of the final qualifier spot.
“I was up until like two in the morning trying to do math on my calculator, which was harder than I thought,” Schaar said of his determination to earn a spot on the Olympic team.
His plan worked.
With the support of his family, fellow skateboarders, and Team USA skateboarding coach Andrew Nicolaus, Schaar finished second at the final qualifier event. In doing so, he made it onto the Paris team.
It was a dream realized, but it only left Schaar with one month to change his mindset from trying to make the team, to trying to win a medal.
“I missed [the Tokyo Olympics] by one spot and then barely just squeezed in by the skin of my teeth at the last qualifier for this Olympics, so honestly, I just kind of had the mindset that I wasn't even really supposed to be here,” Schaar said of the past few years.
“I was just kind of trying to enjoy every moment [of the Olympics] that I could and just try and take it all in [and] I ended up getting a medal. So it's just the kind of the cherry on top,” Schaar added about his experience going from Olympic hopeful to medalist within two months.
As for his plans for the future, Schaar hasn’t thought much about the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“It is where skating started, so it would definitely be a very incredible one to be a part of,” the California native said of the next summer Games.
For now, Schaar is just looking to relax. But before heading back home, Schaar is on one last mission in the Olympic Village: to collect Snoop Dogg’s personalized Olympic pin.
Schaar may have been greeted with a hug by Snoop Dogg after his silver-medal winning run, but the singer was too busy to trade pins while cheering on the rest of the athletes.