Malibu native wins silver in men’s park skateboarding in the sport’s Olympic debut
To be a part of Team USA for skateboarding at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris is “pretty crazy and a lifetime opportunity,” according to Malibu’s silver medal-winning Tom Schaar, because it was the first time the sport was includedin the Games.
Schaar took home the hardware on Aug. 7 in men’s park skateboarding. Schaar earned a score of 92.23, finishing behind his good friend, Australia’s Keegan Palmer, who won gold by scoring 93.11. Augusto Akio of Brazil took home the bronze medal.
Schaar is the third U.S. skater to win a medal at the Paris Games.
“I think people are fully embracing skateboarding in the Olympics,” Schaar said. “Paris definitely showed us love!”
Oh, and by the way, Snoop Dog showed Schaar some love as well — he embraced the medal winner right after he finished skating his second run in the finals as “Still D.R.E.” played in the background. That alone will always be a wonderful memory for the 24-year-old Malibuite!
Heading into the Paris Games, three U.S. men were ranked in the world’s top four. Tate Carew, 19, was first; Gavin Bottger, 17, was third; and Schaar was fourth. Schaar and Carew finished second and fourth, respectively, to qualify for the eight-skater final.
Schaar put down a strong first run in the final competition, executing a tailgrab 540 and an alley-oop kickflip Indy to move into first place with a score of 90.11. He and Palmer battled it out from there.
Schaar’s second run included a heelflip Indy, an alley-oop 540 and a kickflip Indy to fakie, with Tony Hawk fist-pumping that performance. Hawk is a huge fan of Schaar — he brought the Malibuite onto his Birdhouse Skateboards team earlier this year.
Schaar first garnered the skateboarding world’s attention when he landed the first 1080 in skateboarding — a move that includes three complete mid-air rotations — on a mega ramp in 2012. Since then, he’s soared and, according to Hawk, is “the best all-around transition skater there is.”
Will Schaar compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles? He’s hoping so and notes that Andy MacDonald, the British X Games veteran who was the oldest skateboard competitor in Paris, is still competing at 51.
For Schaar, it all began in Malibu when his parents built a half-pipe vert ramp in their back garden, and under the tutelage of vert legend Bucky Lasek, Schaar became a legend — a legend Malibu is delighted to call its own.