Keegan Palmer declares that Australia can now salute the king and queen of skateboarding after he achieved the prodigious feat of spinning and twisting his way to his second Olympic gold medal at the age of just 21.
After Arisa Trew had made winning park gold seem mere child’s play at just 14 on Tuesday, Palmer, a grizzled veteran in comparison, followed up 24 hours later at La Concorde with his second Olympic title in the park event in three years.
"We're the king and queen of skateboarding park right now - and we both grew up in the same town. So Gold Coast is holding it down right now," beamed the double champ.
Palmer had produced a series of dazzling performances, securing the best qualifying score in the morning on Wednesday before leading in the final from his outstanding opening run - leaving even the sport's 'GOAT' awed.
"I was very impressed," said the great Tony Hawk. "Two Olympic titles at 21. I mean, we've seen skaters not even reaching their peak in performance into their 30s, so Keegan's got a long career ahead of him."
Palmer could hardly believe the plaudits from his old hero, let alone the praise raining down from a fevered crowd featuring NBA superstar Devin Booker, French gold-medal laden swimmer Leon Marchand and superstar rapper Snoop Dogg.
"He gave me a little like dance on the deck -- but I'm not representing America, so he probably doesn't like me too much," laughed Palmer of his close encounter with the Snoop.
"It's a wild, crazy feeling, dude, to be able to say I'm a two-time Olympian, let alone two-time Olympic gold medallist, it's a crazy, crazy feeling like I literally can't believe it."
In just 24 hours, the little Gold Coast suburb of Elanora had delivered two Olympic champs.
"I'm speechless. To be able to back up Arisa from yesterday is a dream come true. We grew up skating the same park together, Elanora in the Gold Coast. Elanora's holding it down right now!
"A hundred per cent, Arisa's gold was an inspiration for me."
Palmer's opening run in the final scored him 93.11 points - three clear of the rest of the field after the first round, even if not as high as his 93.78 in the prelims.
His fellow Australian finalist, 17-year-old Keefer Wilson, put it simply: "It's just his style, his speed, his execution of tricks, and the way he puts lines together, it's just absolutely amazing."
The San Diego-based Palmer had to beat his best mate, Tom Schaar, the American silver medallist he trains with most days.
Schaar got ominously close with his second-round run, scoring 92.23, but fell when going for broke in the final round, leaving Palmer, the last to skate, to fall to his knees in a victory celebration.
Then given what was effectively a lap of honour on his last run, Palmer tried to pull out all the stops but never got the chance to unveil his full repertoire of secret new tricks as he took a tumble, rose gingerly but then saluted the cheering crowd adjacent to the Luxor obelisk with his board raised high.
It was the perfect follow-up for Palmer to trail in the wheeltracks of Trew, who had become Australia's youngest ever Olympic gold medallist and came out to cheer him on.
Continuing the youth theme, teenager Wilson, whose dad Peter built one of the southern hemisphere's biggest skate ramps for him and his sister to use in their backyard at their home in Nyora, Victoria, produced the performance of his young life to qualify fifth on 90.10 before his eighth-place finish.
The youngsters are coming - and Palmer knows it as he outlined his dream of continuing to keep scooping the big prizes.
"That's definitely the goal. I just got to make sure I keep up with this younger generation," said this venerable 21-year-old.
