‘Don’t let anybody stop you, get out there and prove people wrong’: 13-year-old bronze medalist Sky Brown on empowering a new generation of skateboarders
Making mistakes in her first two runs, she went into her final attempt a few points behind Misugu Okamoto, needing to beat the 15-year-old Japanese skateboarder for third place.
And that’s exactly what 13-year-old Brown did: achieving a flawless final run complete with a kickflip indy to score 56.47 to take bronze — making history as Great Britain’s youngest-ever medal winner.
“This is probably, honestly, one of the best memories ever,” she told CNN Sport’s Coy Wire.
In fact, each of the competitors embraced each other every time they finished a run in the final. According to Brown, the unanimous support and encouragement exhibited at Tokyo is part and parcel of the sport.
“Skateboarding is one big family,” she says. “We push each other and we have fun together, and I think skateboarding is just a friendly sport.”
The British skateboarding prodigy shared the podium with Japan’s gold medalist Sakura Yosozumi and silver medalist Kokona Hiraki, who she refers to as “two of my favorite people.”
‘Do it because you love it’
Brown is certainly inspired by older skateboarders in the sport, but she also hopes to use her platform to inspire a younger generation of athletes to work hard and believe in their dreams.
“Get out there, believe in yourself and try your best. But you’ve got to have fun, you’ve got to enjoy it,” she says.
For an athlete who hasn’t had an easy journey to the Olympics, Brown radiates positivity.
She took up the sport when she was three under her father’s supervision, learning tricks on YouTube and eventually enrolling in Great Britain’s skateboarding program.
However, in May 2020, she endured a life-threatening injury when she fell 15 feet while training, landing on hard ground and sustaining a fractured skull, broken left wrist and hand, and lacerations to her lungs and stomach.
Her motto for young girls chasing their ambitions? “Be brave, be strong, have fun and do it because you love it,” she tells CNN Sport.
“Don’t let anybody stop you, get out there and prove people wrong.”
The future
While she insists that she’s having “the best time ever” competing at global venues with her peers, she’s also trying to savor every moment, so she can “take it slow and enjoy the journey.”
“I think it’s important to not just do one thing. Do all different kinds of things because life’s too short,” she says.
