Rayssa Leal
- In full:
- Jhulia Rayssa Mendes Leal
- Born:
- January 4, 2008, Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil (age 16)
Rayssa Leal (born January 4, 2008, Imperatriz, Maranhão, Brazil) is a professional skateboarder who won the silver medal in street skateboarding at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (delayed until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), becoming at age 13 one of the youngest medalists in the history of the Games and the youngest Olympic medalist from Brazil. Leal later won a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Games.
In this move, a skateboarder steps down on the board’s tail, causing the board to “pop.” At the same time, the skateboarder jumps while using his or her front heel to flip the board outward. After the board completes one rotation, the skateboarder lands on the board.
Early life
Leal is the elder of two children born to Lilian Mendes and Haroldo Oliveira Leal. She began skateboarding at the age of six, when she was given a skateboard as a birthday gift. In 2015 a seven-year-old Leal was captured on video wearing a fairy princess costume while executing a heel flip down three steps. The video went viral, aided by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, who shared it on social media. Leal subsequently earned the nickname “Fadinha do Skate” (Portuguese for “Skate Fairy”).
Skateboarding career
In 2019 Leal won the women’s final at the World Skate SLS (Street League Skateboarding) Tour event in Los Angeles. Just 11 years old at the time, she was the youngest skater to take first place at an SLS event. Leal continued to make history later that year when she became the youngest competitor to reach the podium at an SLS World Championship, finishing in third place. Also in 2019 Leal made her debut at the X Games, where she placed fourth in street skateboarding at the competitions in both Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Oslo, Norway.
After claiming the silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Leal won the first event of the 2021 SLS Championship Tour, which was held in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later that year she took second place to Brazil’s Pamela Rosa at the 2021 SLS Super Crown World Championship in Jacksonville, Florida. Leal continued to improve in 2022. That year she won her first X Games gold medal, in Chiba, Japan, and she finished the year by claiming her first world championship title, winning the SLS Super Crown World Championship in Rio de Janeiro.
Leal had a particularly successful 2023. That year she took the title at the first stop of the SLS Championship Tour, in Chicago. Shortly thereafter she won her second X Games gold, again in Chiba. Leal finished 2023 by winning her second SLS Super Crown World Championship, in São Paulo. In her second run she earned her first-ever 9.0 rating. Leal’s other notable wins in 2023 included a gold medal at the Pan American Games, in Santiago. The following year she competed at the Paris Games, and there she won a bronze medal in street skateboarding.
