Aya Asaqas, a 21-year-old skateboarder from Morocco, has made history. She is the first African female skateboarder to qualify for the Olympic Games.
Aya will represent Morocco in skateboarding at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which start today.
According to Olympics.com, Aya began skateboarding in 2018 to follow her passion. Her first competition was the Deg Tour in Iowa, USA, where she saw how big the sport could be.
Aya has trained for the Olympics mostly on her own, without a coach. She often visits different skateparks in Rabat because no single park has everything she needs. Sometimes, she even drives to Agadir for better training facilities.
In May, Aya competed in the Olympic Qualifying Series in Shanghai. Even though she was eliminated in the preliminary rounds, she secured a spot for the Paris 2024 Olympics.
She told Olympics.com that “It was an exceptional experience to be here, to meet all these people from all over the world.”
Aya is not only passionate about skateboarding, but also inspires women in North Africa. She is proud to represent Morocco and Africa at the Olympics.
“Women still have little access to skateboarding and there is also a lack of infrastructure. There are not enough parks, or at least they are not as big as the ones in competitions,” Aya explained.
She believes that competitions help skateboarders practise in better locations.
Aya sees the inclusion of skateboarding in the Olympics as a chance for the sport to grow, stating that it gives more opportunities since it is an Olympic sport.
Aya will make her Olympic debut on August 6, 2024, at the Place de la Concorde in Paris, as she hopes to highlight her sport, her country, and her heritage.
