The Conversation (0)
Greg Evans
Aug 04, 2021
13-year-old Sky Brown has made history after winning bronze in the first-ever women’s park skateboarding event, making her the youngest ever medallist in Team GB history.
In a remarkable finish at the Ariake Urban Arena in Tokyo, Brown kick flipped her way into the history books by posting a score of 56.47 in her third and final attempt (she had fallen during her first two runs) to come in behind Sakura Yosozumi and her 12-year-old Japanese counterpart Kokona Hiraki.
Sky Brown has won Great Britain's first skateboarding medal! Olympic bronze at THIRTEEN YEARS OLD! 🇬🇧… https://t.co/tNwv72aDoU— BBC Sport (@BBC Sport) 1628050551
Yosozumi, 19, topped the podium with a score of 60.09, while Hiraki’s 59.04 proved enough for her to claim silver – eclipsing Brown to become the youngest Olympic medallist in 85 years. Astonishingly, this gave the podium an average age of just 14.
Inaugural Olympic Skateboarding park podium at #Tokyo2020: Yosozumi Sakura #JPN 19 y.o. Hiraki Kokona #JPN 12 y.o.… https://t.co/FPdHgaAYCo— Olympics (@Olympics) 1628051344
The bronze medal continues Brown’s rapid rise to the top. She finished third at the 2019 World Skateboarding Championship, and the following year she effectively secured her Olympic qualification by picking up a bronze medal at the Park World Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Last month, Brown, who has a Japanese mother and British father, warmed up for the Games by winning gold in the prestigious X Games, although neither of her key Olympic challengers, Okamoto and Hiraki, were present.
Brown had been tipped to be one of the stars of this Olympics and, although she couldn’t win the gold, her bronze medal has still earned her a lot of fans who were delighted to see her land on the podium on Wednesday.
Average age on the podium in the #Skateboard Park this morning… 14.6 years 🤪 Add in the 3 medallists in the Street… https://t.co/EpHZ8vCOjk— Dan Walker (@Dan Walker) 1628056740
oh my god!!!! #SkyBrown https://t.co/cUnqiolpVl— gabb 📸 (@gabb 📸) 1628050464
🎉 🛹 🇬🇧 🛹 🥉 🛹 🇬🇧 🛹 🎉 #TeamGB’s Sky Brown takes bronze, but this picture of immediate solidarity might be the lasti… https://t.co/CDbm1wkIhz— Rachel Steinberg (@Rachel Steinberg) 1628050511
Glad I was up to see @TeamGB Sky Brown win bronze in the skateboarding https://t.co/gxEi39itzR— Rory Cellan-Jones (@Rory Cellan-Jones) 1628050534
Sky Brown, the youngest British summer Olympian of all-time and the youngest ever British medal winner. 13 years… https://t.co/2NRkRR1EJE— Matthew Lumby (@Matthew Lumby) 1628051086
Get the skateboarding on NOW! #SkyBrown https://t.co/kVxIHQ1159— Jeremy Vine (@Jeremy Vine) 1628048752
Sky brown! That’s it. That’s the tweet.— Alan Bersten (@Alan Bersten) 1628045294
Sky Brown! #skateboarding Being injured with a fractured skull to winning an Olympic bronze medal at 13, what a jo… https://t.co/uUzc0L0m7v— Not Just a Fanfiction Writer 🌈💕📘 (@Not Just a Fanfiction Writer 🌈💕📘) 1628051155
SKY BROWN IS AN OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALIST https://t.co/7dZgjKIxIU— marie ☽ (@marie ☽) 1628051045
There was an amazing act of solidarity too for Japan’s Misugu Okamoto, who finished fourth in the competition after Brown was able to complete her final run.
This is what I mean. After Japan's Misugu Okamoto fell on her final run (and therefore lost out on bronze to Brit… https://t.co/Es3tXQcb0I— Jerome Taylor (@Jerome Taylor) 1628050519
Brown, who also speaks Japanese, also helped translate for gold medallist Yosozumi during English television interviews. What a hero!
Sky Brown : bronze medalist and translator. She’s helping Sakura Yosozumi during English interviews, since she spea… https://t.co/LbMBQmfyVN— Kim Vallière (@Kim Vallière) 1628053478
Well done to all the young medallists in the women’s skateboarding (the street event also saw 13-year-olds Momiji Nishiya and Rayssa Leal also win gold and silver respectively). Just teenagers and they already have the whole world at their feet.
We can’t wait to see what they do next.