Rayssa Leal and Leticia Bufoni: Forever stronger together
Mentor, best friend, family: Brazil’s top street skateboarding duo have a one-of-a-kind relationship both on and off the skate park.
Skateboarding
There is one sisterhood in skateboarding like no other, and it belongs to Rayssa Leal and Leticia Bufoni.
WATCH: World Street Skateboarding Rome 2022 live on Olympics.com
One is a Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist; the other is a six-time X Games gold medallist. But together they share a unique bond that reaches beyond the streets and rails.
Often seen hanging out together on social media, their friendship has inspired thousands of fans across the world.
So, how did it all start?
It all began when the legendary 'godfather’ of skateboarding Tony Hawk shared a video on his social media.
When scrolling through Twitter Hawk discovered a clip of a seven-year-old Leal dressed from head-to-foot as a fairy doing a kick-flip down a set of stairs.
The 'Fadinha do Skate' (skateboarding fairy) from Maranhão impressed him so much he shared the video with his seal of approval and it soon went viral.
After her video amassed millions of views Leal was later tracked down and interviewed. She revealed that her number one skateboarding inspiration was Bufoni and that she was eager to one day meet her.
A television company then intervened to make her dream a reality. They invited Leal onto the show and surprised her with Bufoni reducing the young Brazilian into tears of joy.
Just two years later Leal began joining Bufoni in competing at some of skateboarding’s biggest event and the elder skater immediately took the young prodigy under her wing in support.
At Tokyo 2020, in 2021, when the two skateboarders were suited in national colours to represent Brazil in their sport’s Olympic debut, Bufoni and Leal showed the world just how close they are.
As Leal etched her name in the history books by winning an Olympic silver medal at just 13 years old, Bufoni was by her side congratulating
Hugging, smiling, cheering – their friendship captured the hearts of millions of people tuning in to watch Olympic skateboarding for the first time.
Leticia Bufoni: “Far but always close”
Even now the two are as close as ever.
Often referring to each other as “mom” and “daughter” the two regularly post updates of their friendship in action.
In celebration of Bufoni’s 29th birthday (13 April 2022), Leal shared a post on her social media congratulating her idol:
“Today is the day of my greatest inspiration,” wrote Leal on Instagram. “Thank you so much for the encouragement, advice and all the jokes we do together.
"Soon we’ll be skating and making fun of it again. Miss you, mom,” joked Rayssa, hinting at the nature of their friendship.
Just ahead of the launch of the Paris 2024 street skateboarding Olympic qualifier in Rome, Italy where Leal is competing this week, Bufoni posted a picture of the two on a video call to her Instagram story with the words “Longe mas perto sempre” meaning ‘far but always close.’
In support of the message, Leal re-shared the photo on her own Instagram revealing that even at a long distance the two are always thinking of each other.
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