Exclusive: Park skater Tate Carew prepares for thrilling debut at Paris 2024 Olympics
When Tate Carew drops into the park bowl at the Place de la Concorde, there will be certain expectations surrounding him - and with good reason.
The 19-year-old from the United States will enter the men’s park skateboarding event at Paris 2024 as the world’s number one ranked skater owing to an impressive collection of results from the past two years.
In the six Olympic qualifiers he entered ahead of the Games, Carew never once finished below sixth place; claiming three podium finishes and a contest victory at the first stop of the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai.
Very few have been as consistent as Carew but it isn’t just the numbers that have made the U.S. skater a point of focus for those looking for potential medallists in the men’s park field in Paris.
In a podcast episode published earlier this year, legendary skateboard star Tony Hawk recounted a story of having identified something special in the skater when watching him at work in an early Olympic qualifier.
“I was watching a qualifying run like two years ago and it was some [Chris] Gregson footage, you know, he’s there and whatever on some story. And I just wrote, ’Tate, Paris 2024’,” Hawk said in a conversation with Jason Ellis and Carew’s Olympic teammate Tom Schaar.
“I saw it," Hawk confirmed. "I think he’ll do well.”
It prompted Hawk to take a further interest in Carew with his brand sponsoring the U.S. skater and turning him 'professional' over a week before the Games started.
Sitting for an interview with Olympics.com not long after his victory in the People’s Republic of China, Carew seemed comfortable recounting his winning moment. But there is a notable shift when shared how it felt to hear Hawk's words recounted back to him.
“Someone told me six or seven months ago that that interaction had happened between Chris Gregson and Tony and I kind of just… I didn’t really know what to say because, at the time, I wasn’t that close to Chris and also I didn’t ride for Tony, but it was so crazy to hear it,” Carew said.
“And then hearing it again on the podcast and hearing Tom, and they all talked about it… I don’t even know how to feel. It’s just very humbling and a great compliment.”
Carew’s surprise at having been talked up by Hawk speaks a little to the kind of journey the skater has been on to get to the top.
His Olympic story starts not with Paris, but with Tokyo, where he first tried his hand at getting to the Games while in the eighth grade.
“I was stoked to be in the top 20 and maybe, like, the sixth or seventh American,” he told Olympics.com in an interview earlier this year. “It was just more of the experience and my parents were just very excited I was even given the opportunity to do that.”
Rather than arrive on the scene a pre-packaged, young phenom ready to surprise from the outset - as does happen often in skateboarding - Carew’s route was much more a grind, where process and growth needed to play their hand.
In being that bit older, stronger and more experienced as the Olympic cycle for Paris began, he found himself much better equipped to begin his ascent up the ranks and pressure those in front. And once the scores came trickling through, he knew he was on the right trajectory.
But even now that Carew is on top there is, not even for a moment, a sense that he is settling.
As he talks through how his approach to Shanghai, Carew shows flashes of how detailed a competitor he is. From studying the bowl four weeks in advance plotting his lines to anticipating what the judges want and how they are responding to the competition, Carew’s mind never once rested as he hunted ways to keep levelling up.
“Every night before I go to sleep it’s just like, okay, what can I do tomorrow? What would the judges want to see? And every night, my mind is just racing and just going through every possible scenario," Carew said.
“I skate vert a lot. So, there’s one judge that specifically skates vert as well so I know he appreciates certain vert tricks. And then there’s also some street people that sit up there so maybe they’re looking more for the rail or the rainbow ledge stuff. I think I just try to have a good combination.
"I try to have a variety of flip tricks, different 540s and then, like, lip tricks. I think that's like, the most important thing with contest skating. And I think if you're just confident in the way you skate the judges notice that and appreciate it."
Carew’s fascination with the particular is not misplaced.
One of the most compelling dimensions of men’s park since it made its debut at the Olympic Games in Tokyo has been the disciplines’ progression ever since.
Thrown into overdrive by Carew and others like him looking to muscle in on the establishment, event finals in recent times have often felt like sessions gone into overdrive as each skater dropping tries to respond to the other.
The atmosphere it produces has been palpably electric with the skaters applauding each other as they raise the bar between them.
Speaking on the atmosphere and some of those sure to challenge in Paris, the U.S. skater showed his skate IQ again as he offered insights into what they offer.
“I try not to pay attention to everyone else, but when you're skating, it becomes more of a session than a practice. People land like something new or something that they wanted to do, and then it gets everyone excited.
“Everyone has a very different style,” Carew began. “I love the way Gavin [Bottger] skated the course, like grinding across the entire rail. There are only very few people that can do that and obviously him being good at street played a big role in that.
“Pedro [Barros], he goes so big, and his fives are the most textbook fives of all time.
“He [Keegan Palmer] is very technical and really insane. A lot of the stuff he does, I would never even try myself. But, I think he has a great variety of flip tricks and, the same thing, the way he skates, of course, is very unique."
Like chefs all bringing a different recipe to the kitchen, the result ends up being a feast: and for skateboard fans looking for their fix in Paris, Carew and the rest of the field are sure to serve up something special.
Such is the depth of talent in men's park, particularly from the U.S., Brazil and Australia, the contest is arguably the most open out of the four taking place in Paris.
That will be something Carew has already considered and factored. The diligent skater who hasn't skipped a beat all cycle, will have primed and prepared for a moment he has look since worked towards.
And as for the expectations on him specifically, he isn’t paying them too much attention.
He keeps his focus on what he knows best.