Paris 2024 Olympics: Jagger Eaton arrives with a shot at history

Jagger Eaton pulls up on his board, whips out his phone and begins to punch the screen with his thumb.

A moment seems to pass before his neck starts nodding in a rhythm. A look approvingly crosses his eyes as he fiddles with his earphones. He’s found his song.

Slipping the device back into his pocket, he waits another moment before dropping back into the skatepark with a rollicking energy no doubt powered by the anthem now playing in his ear.

It’s a routine he repeats over and over.

In less than 24 hours, under the watch of Paris’ iconic Place de La Concorde setting, a music-fuelled Eaton will aim to win gold in the men’s street skateboarding event.

Should he finish on the podium, he will become the first-ever United States skater to claim back-to-back Olympic medals after having won bronze in Tokyo three years ago.

It would certainly be a neat piece of history should Eaton podiums in Paris, and one the skater will undoubtedly have in his sights. The U.S. has long been the powerhouse of global skateboarding, and certain expectations follow when it comes to performance.

But, for a time, it wasn’t the only record the 23-year-old was chasing.

Up until late June of this year, the Arizonan has been on a one-man mission to become the first skater to qualify and compete in street and park at the Olympic Games. And after coming up short of the same goal ahead of Tokyo, initially, Eaton’s Parisian pursuit had looked promising.

During the first stop of the Olympic Qualifier Series in May he looked unstoppable.

Four hours after winning the men’s street event ahead of Nyjah Huston and world number one Onodera Ginwoo, he was back on the podium in the men’s park event, after placing third. Optimism was high.

However, at the second stop in Budapest less than a month later, the dream unravelled after Eaton failed to qualify for the final of the men’s park contest. His absence opened the door to compatriot Tom Schaar who needed no asking as he secured the final US quota spot, leaving Eaton to settle for street alone for the second time.

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There can be no question that coming up short of his target would have been painful for Eaton not least given the scale of investment that went into the bid.

Double the event meant double the practice and twice the exposure to injury.

Speaking to Olympics.com in May, the skater gave the example of how he had fractured his tibia plateau while in Dubai practising ahead of an Olympic qualifier in March. He was forced to withdraw from the event altogether.

“It was just training,” Eaton said at the time. “Getting injured is an occupational hazard for a skateboarder, you know? And running both disciplines each day like I’ve been doing it’s inevitable I’m going to hurt myself.”

While his dual quest may have been unsuccessful, it’s hard to imagine that the disappointment has fundamentally altered his broader mission to be the best.

His burning ambition, which has, in moments, tested him to his core, has always been rooted in a pure, concentrated passion for his craft. In an emotional podcast with Olympics.com in early 2023, Eaton shared how he had hit rock bottom mentally with his skateboarding - and it was only in the depth of despair that he realised just how much he loved it.

"I know what it's like to really hate something that you've done your whole life, what you've dedicated your life to. I know what it's like to hate it so much. And most of the time when you hate it that much, there's something that you love about it," he said. "There's something that you can't live without when you have that much hate towards it and then you just find it again. You just find the passion and the love, and it happens. And then from there, it's just things start to get rolling again.”

Fast forward to May this year, that same passion came straight to the surface when he talked about his motivation in trying to qualify in both disciplines.

“I’m such a skate nerd but more than anything, I’m just in love with what I do. I love this to death.

"I’m just curious. I love being the best at what I do. I love competing under pressure like that. I love being around the best in the world and finding out the strategy to win each time is a goal.”

He continued: “Like, I love that type of challenge. Like I always have, you know? And I don't know how long I'm going to be able to do it for, but while I'm doing it, I’m going to enjoy each moment of it.

"You can't turn love off"

With his sights now purely set on street, Eaton will be a formidable force when the men’s contest begins on Saturday 27 July.

His penchant for gnarly switch tricks, as well as his overall taste for tactics, has sharpened him into one of the fiercest competitors on the circuit. That much was made plain when Eaton talked through his approach to the discipline.

“Street is a lot more strategic. I know I have a lot more knowledge about what the judges will score my things,” the skater explained. “In street, I go in there with a strategy. I know the use-of-course, I know the trick selection. I know what they want to see.”

Certainly what the crowds will be expecting to see is the very best everyone has to offer.

Thanks to Olympic champion Yuto Horigome's last-gasp heroics in Budapest, he will headline a roster of top street skateboarding talent including French prospect Aurélien Giraud, young gun Onodera Ginwoo and the legendary Huston.

In many ways, the stage could not be better set for a skateboarding spectacle and it’s precisely in such an arena that the competitor in Eaton comes alive. Though he may not have achieved what he initially set out to do, a second shot at history will be one he will not want to miss - and the burning desire that pulled him through two years of hard work and pain will only strengthen as his target has refined.

As Eaton himself put it: “You can't turn love off: love is always there.”

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