Annie Guglia

Biography

Annie Guglia competed briefly in 2005-06 but because there was a lack of opportunities for women to make a professional career out of skateboarding at the time, she decided to focus more on her education. But after it was announced that skateboarding would be included on the Olympic program at Tokyo 2020 and she had finished her Masters degree, she decided to return to competitive skateboarding in 2017 because representing Team Canada would be a new challenge. She also volunteered to be on the Board of Directors of the newly formed National Sport Organization, Canada Skateboard, to help structure the sport in Canada.

In 2016 she had driven to California to complete data collection for her Masters’ thesis in Business Strategy on the skateboarding industry and stayed for four months. While there, she met most of her idols from her teenage years who were filming an all-female skateboarding video and she jumped into the project. The next year, she was invited to compete at X Games, which had always been a dream of hers, and finished 14^th in the street event. In 2018, she won the first national championships for skateboard in Canada. She followed that up with two more national titles in 2019 and 2020. Guglia has also competed at three world championships, finishing 18^th in 2018, 25^th in 2019 and 24^th in 2021.

In 2019, Guglia tore a ligament in her right ankle, the exact same injury she had sustained in 2015. That first time, it had taken her 10 months before she could ollie because she is goofy, so her right ankle is her front foot, making the injury particularly tough for her. The second time, she had treatment such as physiotherapy and acupuncture and was back competing after five months. Guglia made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 when she was added to the list of competitors just two days before the women’s street event took place because of withdrawals.

A Little More About Annie

Getting into the Sport: Started skateboarding in 2001… Her older brother had received a skateboard for Christmas and by the next summer she was borrowing boards from him and his friends so her parents got her her own for her birthday… Was drawn to the physics of skateboarding; took her a year to understand how to do an ollie, a basic figure in the sport, but as soon as she had that she was hooked… Entered her first local competition at age 14 and while registering was told there was no girls category, which made her realize she was the only girl skater that she knew… She soon met a group of female skateboarders from Montreal called the Skirtboarders who wanted to promote women in skateboarding and they became her “skate crew” during her teen years… Outside Interests: Graduated from UQAM in 2014 with a degree in Marketing… Earned her Masters in Business Strategy from HEC Montreal in 2017 with a thesis titled “We’re not in it for the money; discursive analysis of managers within the skateboard industry in North America”… Worked for three years for non-profit JM Court Skatepark at a high school where students can be mentored in skateboarding and life… Started “All Gurlz Sk8 D8” to provide free initiation to skateboarding for girls of all ages… Works parttime as a marketing coordinator for Vans Canada… Athlete representative for AthletesCan… Enjoys yoga, meditation, reading, hiking, and going on roadtrips in her camper van… Odds and Ends: Favourite motto: “Happiness is a journey, not a destination” … Travels with a San Nicodemo token for good luck that she got from her parents… Always buys a souvenir from competition locations but never the same thing twice…