Andy Macdonald brought the crowd, including skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, to their feet during the men’s preliminary round at the Paris Olympics.
However, the judges less so, with Macdonald finishing 18th in the qualifying rounds – a decision that sparked fury in the stands.
Skateboarding fans packed into the Place de la Concorde arena were unhappy the 51-year-old wasn’t rewarded for his stellar showing.
Macdonald was able to see the positives though, with the skateboarding legend telling the BBC: “That’s how you’re supposed to do it.
“You get your run down and then you build on it, everything after that is just a bonus. The last run was just a bonus.
“So happy to stay on my board the whole time. What an experience. The experience of a lifetime being here at the Olympics.”
“It’s just emotion, that’s how it comes out. If you watch my run from Budapest, that’s what I wanted to do.
“And it just builds up and builds up and it’s like a head rush and you have to let it out somehow.
“For me it comes out as a scream. It’s excitement, it’s relief, every emotion you can think of it just comes out. Then you come to and you’re like, ‘I did it!'”
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