Rayssa Leal turned 16 in January and had a busy year. It’s a busy year for any Olympic athlete during the Games season, but not everyone wins a medal while in their second year of high school, as the woman from Maranhão did in her city, Imperatriz.
Soon after receiving bronze in the street skateboarding category in Paris, the teenager was asked what she would do when she returned to Brazil. “I’m going to study, right?”, he said, frowning in a caricatured way, with his simple charisma. “Dude, why did you remind me?”
It was a joke, obviously, but Rayssa really had little rest since the dispute in Place de la Concorde, in France – her second podium, after silver in 2021, in Tokyo, made her the youngest person to win Olympic medals in two editions of the Games , surpassing American swimmer Dorothy Poynton-Hill, who took second at age 17, in 1932.
Since then, the Brazilian has won her second world championship in street skateboarding and also became champion of the sport at the STU Pro Tour. Between competitions and studies, he reflected on the strength of Brazilian athletes, responsible for 12 of the 20 medals in Paris, co-responsible for a 13th, in judo for mixed teams, and owners of the three gold medals.
“Look at what we did at the Olympic Games. Many women there had little or almost no incentive. Imagine, with adequate support, where can we go? Women’s sport in our country is a powerhouse. It is important that we give more visibility to Brazilian sport as a all, especially the feminine,” he told Folha.
In Paris, for the first time, the Maranhão native understood what it means to be an Olympic athlete surrounded by expectations. When he won silver in Tokyo, at the age of 13, he had in his favor the lack of discernment regarding the size of the event, which minimized the effect of pressure, and he performed without an audience, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Being at the Olympics again, but understanding the responsibility of being there, was a different experience,” said Rayssa, who cried in her mother’s arms after a mistake that almost took her out of the final. “My team was also with me physically, which helped a lot for me to stay calm and have fun, doing what I do best.”
Today, although still very young, the one who was once called Fadinha has a clearer idea of what she represents. And, linked to fashion, between school homework and radical maneuvers, she spreads her wings beyond skateboarding, as she did at the last Paris Fashion Week, showing off items from Louis Vitton, a brand for which she is a global ambassador.
“Fashion and skateboarding have a natural connection with me and with many skaters too. It’s part of our culture, our lifestyle, which makes the match natural. If you look at a skater’s looks for a championship, you’ll see how big Some are wearing pieces that are fashion trends that season,” he said.
It’s a lot.
Later this year, she will have sporting responsibilities. The turbulent season will end at the SLS Super Crown World Championship, the final of yet another relevant international championship, to be held in São Paulo, on the 14th and 15th of December.
She is looking for a second championship and wants to rest. But the vacation she’s most looking forward to is something else: “When classes are over.”
