Jhulia Rayssa Mendes Leal (born 4 January 2008) is a Brazilian skateboarder who won a silver medal in women’s street skateboarding at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Rayssa Leal

Leal at 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo
Personal information
Birth name	Jhulia Rayssa Mendes Leal
Nickname(s)	Fadinha (Little Fairy)
Born	(2008-01-04) 4 January 2008 (age 14) Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil
Height	4 ft 10 in (1.47 m)[1]
Sport
Country	Brazil
Sport	Skateboarding
Medal record Representing  Brazil Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo Street Summer X Games 2022 Chiba Street World Championship 2019 São Paulo Street 2021 Jacksonville Street 2021 Rome Street

Skateboarding career

Leal was born and lives in Imperatriz, the second largest city in Maranhão, and alternates school studies with training. She started training the sport at the age of six, after getting her first skateboard on her 6th birthday, a gift from a family friend.[2]

Leal first gained attention at the age of seven in internet videos of her skating in a tutu and jumping off tall structures on her skateboard. Leal's mother filmed the video on September 7, 2015 and sent it to Tony Hawk (the best known skater in the world). The next day, the American reposted on Twitter and commented: "I don't know anything about it, but it's amazing: a fairytale-style heelflip in Brazil". At that time, he always made a post with the best maneuver of the day.[3][4] She was dubbed "A Fadinha do Skate", translated roughly as "The Little Fairy of Skateboarding".[5][6]

Early competitions

Mendes Leal competed in the 2019 Street League Skateboarding Championship in London, placing third with a score of 26.0, finishing above Alexis Sablone, Letícia Bufoni, and other skaters but behind fellow Brazilian Pamela Rosa and Australia's Hayley Wilson.[7][8] In July 2019, she placed first at the Street League Skateboarding Championship in Los Angeles, leading the podium ahead of Pamela Rosa and Alana Smith.[9] Also in 2019, she won a fourth place for her first X Games appearance.[10]

2020 Olympic Games

She competed in the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo at the age of 13, the youngest Brazilian ever to participate in the Olympic Games.[11] In the skateboarding street competition she placed 3rd in the qualifiers.[12][13][14] In the final, she won the silver medal.[15][16] At 13 years and 203 days old on medal day, she was the youngest Olympic medalist in 85 years[17][18][19] and became an instant celebrity, gaining 5.8 million new followers on Instagram.[20] The young athlete also won The Visa Awards following her display of sportsmanship towards her opponents during the competition. The prize is a $50,000 donation to a charity of her choice.[21]

2021-2024

On August 28, 2021, Rayssa won the opening leg of the 2021 SLS season, which took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. In the last round of tricks, Rayssa needed an 8.3 rating to pass Funa Nakayama and amazingly got an 8.5 rating. It was the highest score in women's SLS history, as no woman had achieved a 360º flip followed by a handrail maneuver until this point in an official competition.[22]

In April 2022, she won her first X Games gold medal, defeating Funa Nakayama and Chloe Covell. [23]

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to Rayssa Leal.

На других языках

[it] Rayssa Leal

[ru] Леал, Раиса