IT barely felt real, but 16-year-old skateboarder Lola Tambling really is an Olympian, writes Paul Eddison at Place de la Concorde.

The Saltash teenager found herself in the same heat as Tokyo bronze medallist Sky Brown in the prelims of the women’s park competition.

With just the top eight qualifying for the final, the standard of competition was exceptionally high – to the point that reigning champion Sakura Yosozumi of Japan did not make the cut.

Considering that quality, a finish of 15th for Tambling was more than respectable and she could not get over the fact that she had appeared on the biggest stage of all.

She said: “I’m buzzing right now. I can’t believe it. It’s crazy. I skated, managed to land my run. I’m so buzzing, I have no words, but I’m just soaking it all in.

“Hearing that (I’m an Olympian) is crazy. It makes me want to cry happy tears when I think about it.

“I hope this inspires (little girls), and teaches them if you want something, you can do whatever you want. Go for things in life and have fun.”

Tambling produced her best performance on her first run, with each competitor getting three attempts to lay down a run at the Urban Sports Park in Place de la Concorde.

Among those competing was 11-year-old Chinese competitor Zheng Haohao, born the day before the closing ceremony of London 2012, and the youngest Chinese Olympian ever. Like Tambling, she missed out on the final.

Tambling’s score of 73.85 was good for 15th, with 82.29 required to crack the top eight – Brown qualified in fourth despite recently dislocating her shoulder.

Tambling is now planning to make the most of the rest of this summer, including heading to Boardmasters Festival in Newquay before turning her attentions to returning to this arena in four years’ time in Los Angeles.

She added: “LA, I’m going to keep working towards that. I’m going to go home, keep doing my thing. I’ve got a festival when I get back, Boardmasters, let’s go! I’m homeschooled, I would have just finished. I didn’t do my GCSEs, so I need to focus a bit on school.

“Everyone has fully backed me, my whole town (Saltash). Everyone is showing their love and support, they are going to be buzzing when I go back home. I really appreciate everyone.”

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