PARIS – Andy Macdonald has brought an electric skateboard to the Olympic Games.

“It allows me to zip around the village because the village is massive,” Macdonald said of his home last week. “That’s been the beauty of this trip. It’s just surreal really. I’ve stayed up until 2am and got up at 6am just to experience everything I can experience in the village, just see the world come together in sport.”

“You walk around and think, ‘Wow, that guy is from North Korea, that guy is from Sierra Leone.’ I go to them: ‘You’re from Sierra Leone. What’s your sport? What’s your story? How did you get here? Your story must be awesome.'”

So does his story. The longtime San Diego County resident just skated for Great Britain at the park event at age 51.

And skated well.

Although he didn’t win a medal, there is no doubt that he won over the sold-out crowd around the concrete bowl on the Place de la Concorde.

“I knew it would be fun, but the crowd was like, ‘Yeah for the old man!'” Macdonald said. “And as a bonus, I skated well. I felt like I was representing twice. I wanted to represent the old guys and do my best, but more importantly, I wanted to show on this world stage that skateboarding is the most fun thing there is.”

“Hopefully that came across.”

Macdonald, who gained British citizenship through his father, landed all elements of his opening run in the preliminary round except the last one – a backflip that flew out of the bowl and onto the deck. He perfected it on his second run, however, earning thunderous applause and a score of 76.61.

They were particularly proud of the second trick of the run, a Nollie Heel Flip.

“It’s a trick I invented,” Macdonald said. “I thought to myself, ‘I don’t want to fall at the Olympics doing a trick I invented.’ I was super nervous.”

His third run was even better at 77.66.