By Sammie Jones-
A twelve-year-old girl is being celebrated after becoming the youngest British summer Olympian of all time after being named in the Team GB skateboarding squad.
Sky Brown qualified based on world rankings in June and has now made it through the formal selection process.
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Brown will compete in the women’s park event in Tokyo this summer and is currently ranked third in the world.
Brown’s achievement is particularly incredible giving the shocking injuries she sustained in a skateboarding accident last June. The injuries left her with multiple fractures in her skull, and a broken left arm and fingers. It is the first time skateboarding will feature at the Olympics, which is set to begin on 23 July.
Of mixed parentage, sky’s dad Stu is English, but moved to the USA in his teens. Her mum Mieko is from Japan. Born in Miyazaki, Sky spends half of her school year in Japan and half in the US. get behind the Brit who was born in Miyazaki to a British dad and Japanese mum.
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At the age of eight, Brown competed in the Vans US Open, making her the youngest person ever to compete at the event. On her return in 2018 she finished in the top 10.
The talented skateboarder also won US TV show Dancing with the Stars: Juniors, with partner JT Church.
The 2019 world bronze medallist – and first ever female to land a ‘frontside 540’ trick – is joined in the GB team by Bombette Martin, 14.
Ms Brown said: “I’m just excited to be in the Olympics,” said Brown, who will be 13 years and 11 days old when she steps out in Tokyo, eclipsed only by figure skater Cecilia Colledge, who was 11 at the 1932 Lake Placid Winter Games.
“Everyone around the world will be watching, and I feel like if I’m the little one in there going big, hopefully they (girls) will think, ‘maybe I can do it’, and I can show the world how fun and creative skateboarding is.”
But I feel like watching the Olympics and seeing how many girls are doing the sport and how good and fun it is, if they watch the Olympics they’re going to really want to do it.”
As well as being “stoked”, Brown described the feeling of qualifying for the Olympics, which was helped by her bronze medal in the park event at the 2019 World Championships in Sao Paolo, as “a crazy feeling” and “more than a dream come true.”
Everyone around the world will be watching, and I feel like if I’m the little one in there going big, hopefully they (girls) will think, maybe I can do it, and I can show the world how fun and creative skateboarding is.
She added: “Everyone around the world will be watching, and I feel like if I’m the little one in there going big, hopefully they (girls) will think, maybe I can do it, and I can show the world how fun and creative skateboarding is.”
Brown’s achievement is all the more remarkable given the shocking injuries she sustained in a skateboarding accident last June, which left her with multiple fractures in her skull, and a broken left arm and fingers.
“It was a pretty bad accident,” Brown recalled. “I was knocked out for 12 to 16 hours. It was a really bad time – I couldn’t see my brother for the whole time, and only one of my parents could come in.
“But I recovered really fast, and getting back on the board, I wasn’t scared at all, I was excited. I actually felt stronger after that. I wanted to do more things – I did the mega-ramp after that.”
Brown will compete in park, one of two featured disciplines in skateboarding and one of four sports making its Olympic debut in Japan.
Competitors are judged on the difficulty and originality of tricks performed in a bowl carved to resemble the empty pools of skateboarding’s DIY past.
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