At 16, Arizona skateboarder Paige Heyn is one of the youngest 2024 Olympians

The 2024 Summer Olympics start soon — and some Arizonans will be there to represent the Grand Canyon State. This morning The Show got the chance to meet one of the youngest of them.

Paige Heyn is a 16-year-old skateboarder from Tempe who’s heading to her first Olympics this week. She told The Show she’s been skating for most of her life.

@USASkateboarding

Full conversation

PAIGE HEYN: I was four when I got my first skateboard, but didn't start actually getting into it till I was eight.

LAUREN GILGER: Eight years old. So, this is half of your life that you've been skateboarding and you've gone from being an eight-year-old on a skateboard for the first time to now heading to the Olympics. Let's talk about how that happened. Like when did skateboarding become something you really love and something that's competitive for you?

HEYN: I always loved it. Like, after I actually skated for the first time, I fell in love, and I've been skating since then. And then in 2019, I got invited to São Paulo, Brazil, and it was my first time out of the country, first time traveling for skateboarding that far away, and I was like, oh, wow, this is like, pretty serious. I was skating every day, I'd wake up, skate in my garage, go to school, come back, skate in the garage, and then I'd go and skate for four hours at the skate park.

GILGER: So, tell us a little bit about the kinds of things that you do when you're skating in the Olympics. Like it's a pretty new event. It's only been in the Olympics for a couple of years. What are the categories? What does the track look like? How's it gonna look for people watching it on TV?

HEYN: There's street and there's park. I do street. It's like rails and ledges and a lot of board flipping. And some of my signature stuff is skating switch, and that's like - either you're goofy or regular and I'm regular. So, when I skate goofy, we call it switch, and it scores really good and it's big tricks because not a lot of people do them.

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GILGER: Wait, you're gonna have to define some things there for us. What's the difference between goofy and regular there?

HEYN: Regular is when your left foot is in front of you, like your left foot is first, and then goofy is when your right foot is first on the board.

GILGER: That's why it's called "goofy." I love that. So tell us about competing at this level, like was there a moment a competition, a coach, some time when you realized that you were not just competitive in skateboarding, but that you were one of the best?

HEYN: Last year, I had a really good year, and in Switzerland, I got third and it was like my first time podiuming on a big contest. And then after that, it was kind of just one after another.

GILGER: Tell us about all the places you've been, the experiences you've had so far at such a young age in skateboarding. Did you ever think it would take you this far?

HEYN: I definitely did not think it would take me this far. But it's honestly the best thing ever. I get to explore and see different places and different cultures, and I've been everywhere - like Japan, I've been a couple times, Switzerland, Rome, Dubai, Budapest, China, all over the place.

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GILGER: But you're still 16 — you're in high school I'm assuming. Did you have to homeschool or do school differently because you're basically a professional skateboarder now?

HEYN: Yeah, I do online school now through like a Olympic program. And so it's made easier for your schedule. But in September last year, is when I was like, do I sign back up for school? And it's as we were traveling to Switzerland. And I was like, I'm going to sign up be two weeks behind already. And so it just didn't seem realistic.

GILGER: That's really interesting. So let me ask you about the skate scene here in Phoenix, like, I don't really know this world, but I know it is kind of a whole culture in and of itself, right? Like, what's the skate scene look like here? Are there a lot of places to skate? Are there a lot of people who are into this and are supportive of each other?

HEYN: Yeah, the skate culture out here is great. There's a lot of skate parks, but of course, it's really hot. There's these indoor parks called KTR, and it's like trampoline and skate park. And that's where Jagger Eaton — he's also going to be Olympics, and he's from here — his dad like owns all of those. And so I grew up skating there and training there.

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GILGER: I wonder this about skateboarding, right, because this is like a pretty risky sport in terms of injuries I'm guessing. Like, do you fall a lot? Do you think it takes a certain kind of personality for somebody don't want to do something like this?

HEYN: Yeah, you do fall a lot, really hard and to hard ground. But I feel like you kind of just get used to it. I don't know. A lot of repetition of it comes natural.

GILGER: So let's talk about heading to Paris. Are you excited? Are you nervous? Like talk a little bit about your goals for, not just the competition itself in the Olympics here, but for what you want to go get out of the experience.

HEYN: I'm definitely more excited than nervous. A little bit nervous. But I just really want to have fun and enjoy the moment because I've worked so hard to get here, had so many ups and downs, and I made it. So, might as well just have the best time and do my very best.

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GILGER: So like I mentioned, this will only be the second Olympics where skateboarding has even been a sport that can compete. I wonder what you're thinking heading into that. Like, do you think that skateboarding is misunderstood? And as you're surrounded by all of these other athletes from all over the world who are the best in their sports, do you think that you'll have explaining to do?

HEYN: I think we'll definitely have some explaining to do. Like, talking to other sports, it's a lot different. They all have like a whole routine that they go through, and we kind of just skate. It's pretty new for us to be this serious about it in the Olympics. But I think it's really good for skateboarding and the culture.

GILGER: What do you think is good about that? Like, what do you think that putting skateboarding in the Olympics has done already, and will do in the future, for your sport?

HEYN: I like that it's shown that you can actually get somewhere in skating, because I feel like a lot of people just see skaters and think like, oh, they're just destroying stuff and skating in front of my house and stuff. But it's not just that, and it's really good to have especially like the girls in it and show other girls that they can do a sport like this, too.

GILGER: Yeah. So, even if you win a gold medal in Paris, will you still be back here skating on the streets in Tempe or KTR there when you get back? 

HEYN: Yeah, definitely.