Team GB’s Sky Brown makes history with bronze medal in park skateboarding, aged 13

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Skateboarding sensation Sky Brown today became Britain’s youngest Olympic medallist in history – less than a month after her 13th birthday – as she grabbed Tokyo 2020 bronze at the death after a perfect run following two big falls in the final.

The teenager showed extraordinary skill to finish third just over a year after fracturing her skull in a training crash that could have killed her, breaking down in tears of joy at the end of the final where she was beaten by two Japanese stars, including 12-year-old rival Kokona Hiraki. 

Speaking afterwards Sky said: ‘It was a super sick final. All the girls were ripping it, it was insane. I’m so stoked. I can’t believe it, it’s unbelievable. The medal feels unreal, it’s like a dream. I can’t wait to show the medal to my family and friends’. 

Sky was born in Japan but lives in San Diego with her British father Stuart, a skateboarder and marketing executive originally from Cornwall, and Japanese mother Miko, a housewife. As well as being the youngest female professional skateboarder in the world, she is the youngest Nike-sponsored athlete on the planet appearing in ads with Serena Williams and Simone Biles.

Today’s amazing bronze came just 14 months after a horror training crash in California where she flew off her skateboard at the top of a high ramp and landed head-first on hard ground, fracturing her skull and breaking her hand and wrist. She was airlifted to hospital unconscious but made a miracle recovery. Her dad said at the time: ‘Sky’s had the gnarliest fall she’s ever had and is lucky to be alive. When she first came to hospital, everyone was fearful for her life’. 

The teenager is said to be worth $5million already, with a series of endorsements with other big brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Vans, Hurley, and Billabong. But after today’s success her fame and fortune is expected to soar further. 

Sky already has 1million followers on Instagram and the YouTube channel she shares with her brother Ocean, nine, who is also a professional skateboarder, has had 20million views. She even won US TV talent show ‘Dancing With The Stars: Juniors’ in 2018 and such is her love for surfing, she may choose to take part in that event at Paris 2024, when she will be 16.

Today she entered the history books at 13 years and 28 days old, becoming the youngest Briton ever to  compete for the nation at an Olympics and then grabbing bronze having left it all on her third and final run, after falling in her first two routines.

She was overwhelmed with relief when nailing her routine third time around, to leap above Japan’s Misugu Okamoto into bronze medal position. Virtually the entire field of competitors surrounded Brown and embraced her as she dissolved into tears. When she emerged from the huddle, it was clear that she was delighted. 

She has surpassed the summer British record of Margery Hinton, who was 13 years and 43 days when she competed in swimming at the 1928 Games. British figure skater Cecilia Colledge was 15 when she won figure skating silver in 1936. 

Sky revealed after the race: ‘Sakura [Yosozumi, gold medallist] said, ‘you’ve got it Sky, I know you’re going to make it’, and that really made me feel better.

‘I was a little nervous but I’m happy to be here and honestly, I just wanted to land my trick. I didn’t really care what place I got, I wanted to land my trick.

‘I really hope I inspire some girls. I feel like people think I’m too young and I can’t do it but, if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. I believed in myself and I’m here.’

Just a year has passed since Brown, then 11, fractured her skull and broke bones in her arm after an accident during a practice session.

Father and coach Stu was there watching on at the Ariake Urban Sports Park, with Sky sharing the achievements with the rest of her family back home before taking her place on the podium.

Sky added: ‘He [her dad] said it’s just a contest, if you fall it doesn’t define you. Honestly, that made me feel better. It is just a contest and that’s what it is.

‘I honestly feel that accident made me stronger. That accident was pretty bad. It was a hard time for my parents and a hard time for a lot of people and coming back and getting the bronze is really cool. I’m really happy. It’s really made me stronger.

‘I did speak to my mum and my brother and my mum was crying.

‘I’m so excited to see my brother [Ocean}. He really gets me pumped up when I’m in a contest he goes ‘go Sky’, he screams and I really wish he was here.’

Brown competed at the US Open in 2016 at the age of eight, and first elected to compete for Great Britain in 2018. 

An earthquake registering 6.0 on the Richter Scale shuddered Tokyo on Wednesday morning, but it was nothing compared to the tremors felt at the Ariake Urban Park where Sky Brown and her 12-year-old rival Kokona Hiraki proceeded to rip up the Olympic record books.

Aged just 13 years and 28 days, Brown won bronze in the women’s park competition, after a dramatic podium-or-bust final run of the competition in which she landed a move called the kick-flip indy that had been eluding her all day, and proved enough to make her Great Britain’s youngest Olympic medallist.

Incredibly, she was beaten by the even-younger Hiraki, who thus became the youngest Olympic medallist in 85 years, while her team-mate Sakura Yosozuma, who had qualified for the final in fourth place, nailed back-to-back 540s in the opening run of the final, for a score of 60.09 that proved enough for gold.

On the hottest day yet of the baking Tokyo Games, with temperatures tipping 33 celsius amid stifling 90% per cent humidity, Brown exhibited maturity beyond her years, recovering from falls in each of her first two runs of the final to come good when it mattered, a score of 56.47 lifting her into a podium place.

Ranked third with one competitor, the favourite Misugu Okamoto, to go, Brown still faced the prospect of leaving the Games without a medal. But when Okamoto, the reigning world champion and leading qualifier, failed to go clean on her final run, the Briton’s ascent into the Olympic history books was confirmed.

Brown’s dad Stu, who was born in Britain and whose parents live in the New Forest, admitted he may be powerless to prevent his daughter’s bid to medal in another Olympic Sport.

‘It’ll be up to her by then,’ he said. ‘She’ll be 16, and it’s hard enough now. But she’s straight back to school and do the things that families do. We’ll take her off social media for a little while.’

At that stage, her medal seemed in grave jeopardy. Still to go on her last routine was Okamoto – the world No 1, who beat her to the world title in Sao Paulo. 

But Okamoto fell and was devastated as she lay on the track. Her opponents shouldered her from the track. Brown, the subject of intense attention across the globe before this competition, had taken bronze.

After Okamoto nailed the heats, it seemed like she was the big danger. But Sakura Yosozumi was the one who staked a huge claim, with her first score of 60.09 – which was always going to take some beating.

Brown immediately realised what the Japanese had achieved and ran to embrace her even before the score flashed up. The two are clearly close and spent some of the final together watching others compete. It is a different kind of competitiveness in this sport.

Twice, Brown fell as she attempted to match Yosozumi, But each time she could not complete the course. Her first run still managed to put her into third place but she was out of the medals a she went down for the third and last time

She succeeded, despite the blistering heat here. It is the hottest day of the Tokyo Olympics with temperature at the Ariake Urban Sports Park of 33 celcius, with a 90 per cent humidity.

Her routine included her signature ‘frontside 540’ which entails one and a half spins. Her ability to repeatedly lean while she span – ‘corking it out’ as it is known in the sport – also put her well ahead of the field. 

Brown is also the youngest Olympic medallist of any nationality since Inge Sorensen of Denmark, who was 12 years 24 days when she won bronze in the 200m breaststroke in 1936.

Brown’s achievement is all the more remarkable for the fractured skull and broken bones she suffered during an horrific fall in training last year.

‘That accident was pretty bad,’ Brown admitted. ‘It was a hard time for my parents and a hard time for a lot of people and coming back and getting the bronze is really cool. I’m really happy. It’s really made me stronger.’ 

In 2019, Brown finished third at the 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, she had 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.

Hiraki was first up of the major contenders in qualifying, with her best score over three runs, 52.46, comfortably surpassed by Brown. But Okamoto, the 15-year-old defending world champion, laid down her mark with a leading 58.51.

Ultimately it was Yosozumi who emerged to take gold, with Brown expressing her delight at bronze, and her eagerness to go home to see her younger brother Ocean, and head for the surf, presumably to hone her skills ahead of a potentially audacious bid to qualify for a second sport in Paris in three years’ time.

‘I really hope so, I’m really going to try surfing,’ she added. ‘I’m going to go surf a lot after here. I’m excited to see my brother again, and I’m going to go and party with my friends.’