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PARIS (AP) — Keep an eye out for Bryce Wettstein when she and other skateboarders drop into the Paris Olympics ‘ bowl: You can’t miss her — she’s likely to be the only one strumming a ukulele between runs.
Yup, this 20-year-old both soars and sings. The San Diego native could emerge from the women’s park competition Tuesday with a medal, new lyrics or both.
In Paris, the now two-time Olympian (she was the best-placed American woman in the park, finishing sixth, when skateboarding made its Olympic debut in 2021 at the Tokyo Games ) has been musically whiling away her downtime.
Editing on her phone, Wettstein is putting finishing touches to a music video to go with a song she wrote a couple of months before the Games. She called it “Perfect Moment ” — which could be very fitting Tuesday, depending on how things go for her.
“It reminds me so much of skateboarding, the Olympics,” she said. “I love it. It’s like a little song about everything, finding that perfect moment.”
The follow-up question was obvious: Would you mind playing it?
“Sure ! Sure ! Yeah, I’d love to,” she beamed.
Out came the ukulele that Wettstein had slung over her shoulder. Sat on a curb, after training, outside the skatepark Paris has erected temporarily on Concorde Plaza — where French revolutionaries guillotined King Louis XVI and other royals — Wettstein started to strum.
And time just stopped.
She sings beautifully — her voice tinged with smokiness on lower notes, and crystalline sparkle up high.
“A perfect moment lasts so it can be found,” she sang.
There was a reference to her other passion, too: “Later on in time, I skate by sidewalks I thought were new.”
She says much of the song came to her in one go — at the skate bowl she has at home, under a tree.
“I got the verse and then the chorus, and then the next part kind of came the next day,” she said. “When you sing something, you know, you’re like: ‘That was it.’ Like there’s no going back. And it’s just so magical.”
Catch up on the latest from Day 10 of the 2024 Paris Olympics:
- Gymnastics: Simone Biles finishes off her return to the Olympics with a silver medal in the women’s floor final. Follow live updates here.
- Boxer backlash: Imane Khelif called for an end to bullying athletes after facing a wave of hateful scrutiny over misconceptions about her gender.
- Keep up: Follow along with our Olympics medal tracker and list of winners. Check out the Olympic schedule of events.
And for Wettstein the skateboarder, music is a performance-enhancer, too. She said she’ll bring her ukulele with her for the Olympic competition.
“Music helps me take my mind off, honestly, the stress of anything,” she said.
“I always play music before I compete and things like that … Sometimes I can’t not play. It’s right there, you know?”
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games