Joy is addictive.

Through the murky haze of world events that creeps ever steadily into our news cycles, the glint of gold sparkling through the mire has become habitual morning reading through these Paris Olympics.

It's a joy of shared experience. Of waking up every morning to see which Australian has won this time, and texting friends and family to radiate in the warmth together.

This morning, that joy came via a 14-year-old skateboarder.

And that golden glow burned stronger than just about any other day before it.

It wasn't that Arisa Trew's victory in the women's park final was any better than the other 13 golds that Australia has collected so far.

Each and every medal — gold, silver and bronze — has had its unique tale behind it, from Noémie Fox finally securing her moment in the spotlight to Saya Sakakibara putting behind years of family heartache to stand atop the BMX world.

But what Trew brought to the country on Wednesday morning was that extra shot of euphoria that comes from a kid that just bloody loves her sport.

Unjaded by the cut and thrust and pressure of competition, not wearied by the world and its ways.

Just a girl with her skateboard, her mates, and a great big gold medal hung around her neck.

"It feels amazing to have it (the medal). It's been my goal since watching the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and that inspired me and made me want to come to this Olympics and just get to the podium, which is, like, amazing," Trew told ABC News Breakfast, peppering 'like' into every sentence in lieu of the 'ums' that the older of us tend to use.

"I mean, I'm just going to keep skating and having fun and pushing myself to get better.

"All of my friends are really excited for me. I've got so many messages from all of them. I haven't even checked them all. And I just miss them all so much."

This wasn't an athlete that spoke of the process and the journey and the 'full credit to the coaches'.

This was an athlete who climbed the mountain and reached the pinnacle while smelling the flowers along the way.

But to paint Trew as someone who floated through this competition with a skip and a hop and a song her heart would be a discredit to the fortitude she showed throughout. 

With certain tricks, at certain angles, the scrapes and scars of the hard yards of her sport show red and raw on her young legs.

And on her first run in the fight for gold, that unpredictable, thrill-chasing nature of skateboarding — arguably the coolest of the Olympic events — almost brought it all unstuck.

Tumbling to the concrete, she scored 35.53 to have her chasing the pack with two runs left to push her way to the front.

On her second run, she climbed into the bronze medal spot with a 90.11.

On her final shot at claiming glory, the teenager came up clutch and nailed a 93.18, seeing off fellow teenagers Cocona Kiraki of Japan and Sky Brown of Team GB.

This wasn't path of least resistance. It was risk and reward. Frustration and effort. But it was so much fun to watch.

"In the competition, I fell on my first run, which was kind of annoying because it was on a pretty basic trick," she said.

"But my second run, I landed, which I was happy with, and I was sitting in the top three. So I just wanted to land my last run with a good result, just to know that I was secured into the podium. 

"With that run, I made it into first and it was just the waiting game to see if I stayed there."

When asked if she was nervous, the answer was simple.

"Not really."

She elaborated that she just treats the Olympics — the biggest sporting event on the globe, the eyes of the world focused squarely in one place — as a bit of a run around with mates.

"I mean, like, when I'm in the competition, I just pretend that I'm still in warm-up or just skating with my friends for fun," Trew said.

"It's easier than thinking that I'm in an actual competition."

And in that mindset is where the magic of this particular gold medal sparkled at its brightest.

Trew brought with her an attitude that we all once had as kids — that sport at its very heart is good-natured fun, invented and designed to lift our spirits and boost our dopamine.

In that smiling face that greeted us all on Wednesday morning, we all saw a part of us that we all once had and maybe don't acknowledge as much anymore as we should.

That part of us that can push aside the creeping anxiety of a world that seems doomed to make us feel a little bit awful. That part of us that ignores the bad and focuses on the good. That part of us that sees sport for what it is and what it can do for us all.

That sport is joy.

And that joy is addictive.