Cover Margielyn Didal’s skateboarding journey started in the streets of Cebu at 12. She then became the first Filipino skateboarder to compete in Street League Skateboarding and win gold in women’s street skateboarding at the Asian Games
Margielyn Didal’s skateboarding journey started in the streets of Cebu at 12. She then became the first Filipino skateboarder to compete in Street League Skateboarding and win gold in women’s street skateboarding at the Asian Games
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Skateboarding debuted in the Tokyo Olympics 2020, with Margielyn Didal proudly representing the Philippines on the global stage. Where has her journey taken her since then?
If you’ve ever crossed paths with Margielyn “Margie” Didal, you’d know she faces life riding with its punches—such charm was captured in her documentary Beyond the Board: The Margielyn Didal Story. Affectionately dubbed “Miss Congeniality” by her peers, she’s a natural in front of and behind the camera, always ready with a smile and greeting for fans and strangers alike.
“Margie is incredibly lively and mischievous. She’s cheerful, always laughing,” says Gretchen Ho, executive producer of the athlete’s recent documentary. “But once you get to know her, you start to see the burdens and pressures she carries because the Philippine skateboarding community relies on her.” And Didal takes her role seriously.
But before she was a renowned Filipina athlete and Olympian, she was a simple 12-year-old Cebuana with an interest and a dream.
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Above This professional street skateboarder rose to fame when she competed in the X Games Minneapolis 2018
This professional street skateboarder rose to fame when she competed in the X Games Minneapolis 2018
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Didal started by watching skaters and borrowing boards from other players. “I didn’t have a phone back then, so I had to pay PhP5.00 to log in to the Internet for 30 minutes, watching tutorial videos in slow motion,” she recalls. She did this for a year as she started to skate, even though she still didn’t have her own board.
“Eventually, she was hired at the Concave Skate Park to help clean and cook for everybody,” says Daniel Bautista, the young skateboarder’s friend and coach. He added that Didal “asked a lot of questions” and “was super into it.”
The rest would be history: She won gold at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia. A year later, she clinched the gold twice at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. In 2021, she represented the Philippines in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics—delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t long before her name began to gain recognition in the international skateboarding scene. “I appreciate the people around me, and they appreciate me,” Didal says, honouring her team and supporters. “They value me.”
Above Margielyn Didal in action at a skate park in the Philippines
Margielyn Didal in action at a skate park in the Philippines
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For a long time, skateboarding has been an art form. “It’s like they’re just dancing; their personalities come out, and they don’t like being interfered with,” describes Ho. But now that it’s an Olympic sport, having officially debuted at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, there was a struggle among its players. They now learn strengthening, conditioning, therapy—all the things that come with being a competitive athlete.
“For the competitive side of skateboarding, [Olympics] really is the main goal,” says Bautista. The Olympics is different from all the other sports events—it’s not just a competition. It’s the competition. Each country has committees and organisations dedicated to it. Having Didal represent the country is indeed a huge deal. “It’s awesome that even without world-class facilities, we were still able to produce Margie and other Olympians. It just shows how amazing the Filipino spirit is,” says Ho.
Unfortunately, she lost her chance to win a historic medal, landing seventh place in the Street Skateboarding finals.
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Above Margielyn Didal with Gretchen Ho and the Women In Action team at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (Photo: Gretchen Ho/X)
Above Margielyn Didal lands at seventh place at the Street Skateboarding finals of the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (Photo: Gretchen Ho/X)
Margielyn Didal with Gretchen Ho and the Women In Action team at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 (Photo: Gretchen Ho/X)
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“I just want to skate.”
“I’ve been to the Olympics, and I would love to go again,” Didal says. “But if not given the chance, it’s okay. I will still skate.” So, in 2024, she tried again, this time for the Paris Olympics. She fell short in a few places, landing 46th in the World Skateboarding Tour in Dubai. Only the top 44 moved on to the Olympic qualifiers.
However, Didal reiterates: “Skateboarding is not about competing or being good. It’s about having fun with the skateboard.” Ho, her co-worker for the documentary-turned-friend, supports her: “It’s not all about medals, it’s not all about the glory, but understanding what it takes to get there and how difficult the life of an Olympian is.”
Above Margielyn Didal in action at a skate park in the Philippines
Margielyn Didal in action at a skate park in the Philippines
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“It’s not all about medals.”
One important thing Margielyn Didal achieved was putting the Philipines on the map of skateboarding. Despite her injuries (the major one from the Red Bull Skate Levels tourney in Brazil in 2022) and losses (the Paris Olympic qualifier, one of the most recent ones), she refused to break and continues to skate. She already achieved so much with the very little she had back then. What more today that she has all the support she has and needs?
“If we reduce Margie to just Olympic appearances, we’re missing the big picture of how she actually changed the game,” says sports journalist Paolo Del Rosario. The skating community in the country is growing, with skate parks increasing in quantity. For example, the Baler Skate Park in Quezon Province now rivals even facilities found in Los Angeles. “At the end of the day, Margielyn still won. You can see it in the kids playing, in the crowds, and in the venues. That’s her gold medal,” he added.
Above Despite an ankle injury hampering Margielyn Didal from the sport she loves in 2023, she fully recovers
Despite an ankle injury hampering Margielyn Didal from the sport she loves in 2023, she fully recovers
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Margielyn Didal’s story exemplifies the power of perseverance and determination in overcoming obstacles and changing perceptions within and beyond the skateboarding community. She continues to inspire young ones who want to give up on the sport. “If I can do it, you can do it too,” she says. “We each just have our own time and pace.”
Learn more about Margielyn Didal and her skateboarding journey in Woman In Action: Beyond the Board through Gretchen Ho’s YouTube page.
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is a digital editor at Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
