Yahoo Movies Calif. Native (and DWTS : Juniors Champ) Sky Brown, 13, Wins Bronze in Women's Skateboarding Park
Japan once again dominated in skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics.
On Wednesday, at Ariake Urban Sports Park, Sakura Yosozumi, the 19-year-old who is ranked No. 1 in the world, took gold with her best score of 60.09 as second place went to Kokona Hiraki, who at just 12 years old is ranked the sixth-best skater in the world.
Bronze went to Great Britain's Sky Brown, who turned 13 on July 8 and is third-ranked in the world. (American Bryce Wettstein finished in sixth place.)
Had Hiraki won the women's park competition, she would've been the youngest individual gold medalist ever in any sport. In 1936, at the Berlin Games, American diver Marjorie Gestring won gold in the 3m springboard at 13 years and 268 days.
In Tokyo, Brown made history when she became the youngest Team GB athlete, breaking swimmer Margery Hinton's 93-year-old record from the 1928 Summer Games. Hinton was 13 years and 44 days old.
Brown, the 4'6" skateboarder who has a Japanese mother and English father, splits her time in Japan and Oceanside, California. Brown, who is also a surfer, first started skateboarding at age 3 on the ramp her dad built in their backyard.
"It's crazy to be here. It's been really fun. Everyone is just ripping and it's awesome," Brown told reporters after earning the top score in her preliminary heat. "I didn't really think about the scores, but I'm really stoked for that score. I'm just skating like I usually do, trying to land my tricks and have fun."
Brown, who previously won the Juniors season of Dancing with the Stars in 2018, added, "It's just unbelievable to be here, and getting a good score and getting up high on the rankings is just crazy. I'm just so happy." (Brown's DWTS: Juniors partner Alan Bersten was proudly cheering in the virtual audience.)
The teen is one of the athletes who benefited from the year-long postponement brought on by the global COVID pandemic. In May 2020, Brown fractured her skull, broke her wrist and arm and lacerated a lung while at Tony Hawk's 13.5-foot vert ramp.
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Skateboarding is one of the few sports that has no age requirement at the Olympics.
In fact, street skateboarding, which concluded the women's competition on July 26, had an average age of 14 on the podium.
Japan's Momiji Nishiya, who turns 14 at the end of this month, won gold in street and Brazil's Rayssa Leal, who turned 13 in January, won silver. Third place went to 16-year-old Funa Nakayama of Japan.
To learn more about Team USA, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics now on NBC.
