Team USA skateboarder Jagger Eaton brought home more than just a bronze medal in Tokyo.
“I think Tokyo has shaped me a lot as a person because of the hard work and dedication I put in there,” Eaton told NBC, “and now I'm going to Paris with a lot of knowledge.”
He also has two functioning ankles, a luxury the 20-year-old didn't have when he came third in a skateboarding street event in Tokyo on a broken ankle.
He hopes to use the knowledge he's gained along the way, and his new ankle, to bring home another medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“Coming back to the Olympics means everything to me,” he said.
Skateboarding will make its Olympic debut at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and Eaton's bronze medal will forever make history as the first American to medal in the event.
“When I found out I was on the podium it was the most surreal moment of my life because it was like everything I'd been preparing for for a year and a half, two years, had just happened,” he said.
Now the Arizona native is looking to take another step, or even two, up on the podium.
He won the men's street skateboarding competition at the Shanghai Olympic Qualifying Series in May.
Eaton had hoped to make history by becoming the first skateboarder to compete in both the street and park events at the Olympics, but unfortunately fell just short. In the street event, skaters must skate a course that includes stairs and handrails for 45 seconds, then perform five individual tricks. In the park event, skateboarders must skate a course that is more varied, with bowls and curves, for 45 seconds.
He became the first skateboarder to win world titles in street (2021) and park (2023), and at the Shanghai Olympic Qualifying Series in May, he placed first in street and third in park, making it onto the podium in each event.
No Olympians competed in both events in Tokyo, either men's or women's. Eaton, a five-time X Games medalist, qualified as the top skater in both events. His hopes of winning the doubles event in Paris were dashed when he was forced to withdraw from the park semifinals after multiple falls during warm-ups. Tom Schaer earned the third and final spot on the U.S. Men's Park Olympic Team.
Instead, he will be focusing all his efforts on getting back on the podium in Paris.
“I'm really looking forward to competing hard,” Eaton said. “I'm looking forward to this journey and I have a lot to bring to the table.”
Jagger Eaton was named after one of the world's most famous rock stars, and it seems he inherited that same confidence, calling himself one of the greatest skateboarders of all time.
