A Mansfield skateboarder competing in Australia's first Olympic skateboarding team says she's doing it for late friend and mentor Alex "Chumpy" Pullin.
Hayley Wilson said Pullin, who was Australia's first snowboard world champion and a three-time Olympian, had been a major driver of her Olympic goals.
He died in a tragic freak diving accident in July last year, his body found by a snorkeller at a Gold Coast artificial reef.
His partner Ellidy Vlug took to Instagram recently to reveal she was pregnant with his child – a "heart-wrenching plot twist" in the couple's love story.
Wilson said Pullin, who also grew up in Mansfield, had been a "massive part" of both her snowboarding and skateboarding dreams.
"He was always so positive and caring and gave so much amazing advice," she said.
The 19-year-old is heading to the Tokyo Olympics later this month, with skateboarding included for the first time.
She said she was dedicating this Olympics to Chumpy.
"I hope he’s watching and I hope I can make him proud."
Skateboarding dreams started small
Wilson started skateboarding from a young age thanks to her brother and, oddly enough, the Reject Shop.
She was just six, and she and her brother were mucking around in the discount store during a family shopping trip.
"They gave us some money and let us go and do our thing," Wilson recalled.
Her first skateboard was tiny – a little bigger than her foot.
But it was love at first sight, and soon she was spending every spare moment practicing in the garage.
From garage to Olympic stage
As the years passed, Wilson graduated to bigger boards and swapped the garage for national competitions, winning several titles.
From there, she competed internationally, including in the prestigious X Games Shanghai in 2019.
That same year, she headed to the Olympic qualifiers.
"Because we lived so close to the mountain, I was really big on snowboarding and I had to choose what one I wanted to do," she said.
Last Friday, Wilson was officially presented with her Australian Olympic team uniform and boarding pass for the Tokyo Games.
She is bracing for a different experience – Athlete's Village will be under rigorous COVID-19 restrictions and Wilson's family will be cheering her on from home.
She said it still does not feel real.
"But I’m going to give it my all," she said.
