Canadian teen ready for the grind

Skateboarder De Fazio Ebert, the reigning Pan Am champion, is built for pressure of the Games

- COLE NOWICKI

Like most top Canadian skateboarders, who either live or travel south to train, Fay De Fazio Ebert makes her way to California before every major contest, including the Paris Olympics.

When it comes to performing under pressure, for most people those moments arrive as the relatively low-stakes happenings of everyday life: passing a driver's test, giving a presentation at work, or managing to finish a bowl of spaghetti without getting sauce on one's fresh white T-shirt.

For Fay De Fazio Ebert, that moment will come when the 14-yearold from Toronto steps on her skateboard in front of the world next month at the Paris Olympics.

De Fazio Ebert's qualification follows years of training, international travel, intense competition and media attention in a career that started in 2019, when she was just nine years old.

While she has been in the spotlight from a young age — that's what happens when you'e the face of nationwide Subway ad campaigns — and expectations have always been high, the opportunity that lies ahead remains surreal for the soonto-be Olympian.

"T'm going?" De Fazio Ebert, Canada's youngest Olympian in Paris, says in a phone interview with the Star. "Tt still doesn't feel like it's set in" Since qualifying, she has had a little more than a month to ready herself for the women's park event Aug. 6.1t5s a tall order for the young skateboarder, ranked 23rd in the world. She is no stranger to the bright lights — De Fazio Ebert won gold at last year's Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, making her the first Canadian athlete to earn a medal in the discipline. But the Summer Olympics are a different beast.