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!
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 4, 2021
Olympic bronze at THIRTEEN YEARS OLD! 🇬🇧
https://t.co/2ejAlPxQ2h#Tokyo2020 #Olympics #bbcolympics pic.twitter.com/etcqTkJtqa
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:
— Olympics (@Olympics) August 4, 2021
Yosozumi Sakura #JPN 19 y.o.
Hiraki Kokona #JPN 12 y.o.
Sky Brown #GBR 13 y.o. pic.twitter.com/7RweBvJeNh
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 🤪
— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) August 4, 2021
Add in the 3 medallists in the Street event and that’s 6 women with a combined age of 86!!!
Sky Brown is #TeamGB ’s youngest ever medallist at 13 years and 28 days.#Olympics #TheKidsAreOnFire pic.twitter.com/X52o9Ty5gN
oh my god!!!!#SkyBrown pic.twitter.com/cUnqiolpVl
— gabb 💐 (@gabietab) August 4, 2021
🎉 🛹 🇬🇧 🛹 🥉 🛹 🇬🇧 🛹 🎉 #TeamGB’s Sky Brown takes bronze, but this picture of immediate solidarity might be the lasting image of park #Skateboarding’s Olympic debut. pic.twitter.com/QwmucaIF37
— Rachel Steinberg (@rae_steinberg) August 4, 2021
Glad I was up to see @TeamGB Sky Brown win bronze in the skateboarding pic.twitter.com/gxEi39itzR
— Rory Cellan-Jones (@ruskin147) August 4, 2021
Sky Brown, the youngest British summer Olympian of all-time and the youngest ever British medal winner.
— Matthew Lumby (@MatthewLumby) August 4, 2021
13 years and 28 days. #TeamGB pic.twitter.com/c0udleCaAA
Sky Brown…. Soooooo proud 🥉 pic.twitter.com/YogusYNszN
— Debra Chappelow (@BusyBeeDebraC) August 4, 2021
Really awesome run!
— ジャスティン (Justin) 🇺🇸 (@JustinHatsukina) August 4, 2021
Congrats to Yosozumi Sakura, Hiraki Kokona and Sky Brown on the medals! 🥇🥉🥈#skateboarding pic.twitter.com/j9ckb8rnDI
Really awesome run!
— ジャスティン (Justin) 🇺🇸 (@JustinHatsukina) August 4, 2021
Congrats to Yosozumi Sakura, Hiraki Kokona and Sky Brown on the medals! 🥇🥉🥈#skateboarding pic.twitter.com/j9ckb8rnDI
Get the skateboarding on NOW! #SkyBrown https://t.co/kVxIHQ1159
— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 4, 2021
Sky brown!
— Alan Bersten (@Dance10Alan) August 4, 2021
That’s it. That’s the tweet.
Sky Brown! #skateboarding
— Not Just a Fanfiction Writer 🌈💕📘 (@EzraLoAcire) August 4, 2021
Being injured with a fractured skull to winning an Olympic bronze medal at 13, what a journey that's fairytale material 🥉🇬🇧💞🛹 pic.twitter.com/YGSuqy3LXg
SKY BROWN IS AN OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALIST pic.twitter.com/7dZgjKIxIU
— marie ☽ (@birtuemoirs) August 4, 2021
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.
— Jerome Taylor (@JeromeTaylor) August 4, 2021
After Japan's Misugu Okamoto fell on her final run (and therefore lost out on bronze to Britain's Sky Brown), all the other competitors rushed to hug her and lifted her up.
😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/qztJWDGZ5P
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 speaks Japanese #Tokyo2020 @CBCOlympics pic.twitter.com/4N1g8Qen6J
— Kim Vallière (@KimValliereSRC) August 4, 2021
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.
