Who are Jagger Eaton's parents? All about American's background who became first U.S. skateboarder to win back-to-back Olympic medals at Paris 2024
Jagger Eaton made history at the Paris Olympics 2024 after winning the silver in the men's street event. He finished behind Japan's Yuto Horigome and is now the first US skateboarder in history to win medals in back-to-back Olympics. Eaton won the bronze in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Eaton comes from a family of athletic background as both of his parents, Geoff Eaton and Shelly Schaerrer, were professional gymnasts. Schaerrer had notable achievements during her athletic career.
She represented the US Gymnastics team between 1985 and 1989. Schaerrer then joined the University of Utah where she was a seven-time All-American and finished as the all-around runner-up in the 1990 NCAA Championships.
Eaton has previously spoken about how his parents helped with managing the emotional side of athletics. He also hailed his father's coaching abilities, telling USA Today:
"My parents are really good at managing emotions with athletes. I would say my dad is the greatest coach I have ever seen work with kids, ever."
Eaton also highlighted that his father's main coaching goal is not just to improve a gymnast, but he rather focuses more on building the team components stronger.
Jagger Eaton won the bronze medal in the men's street event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and improved on that result by winning the silver in the Paris Olympics 2024, etching his name in US skateboarding's history.
Jagger Eaton was gutted to miss Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony
Jagger Eaton decided to skip Team USA's walk during the Paris Olympics 2024 opening ceremony, where LeBron James was the flag bearer. His event was initially scheduled for the next day, prompting Eaton to make the difficult decision.
The event, however, got postponed and Eaton recently told People magazine how difficult it was for him to take the decision. He said on the matter:
"I was very upset. I mean I'm not going to lie, I almost shed a tear watching all of those athletes get dressed and go there. The opening ceremony is something that's so special and if you get to experience it more than once, it's a privilege. I'm grateful that I got to experience it in Tokyo, but it was really a bummer missing it here."
Eaton's sacrifice paid dividends as he finished on the podium at the Paris Olympics 2024 as well. The 23-year-old finished with 281.04 points, 0.1 behind the gold-winning Horigome.