Sky Brown delights in Team GB call up with skateboarder set to become the YOUNGEST Olympian to represent Great Britain when she competes in Tokyo at just 13!
Sky Brown says it is ‘more than a dream come true’ to become Great Britain’s youngest summer Olympian – stating her ambition to ‘get gold and inspire people’ in Tokyo.
The 12-year-old skateboarder will be 13 years and 11 days old when she competes in the women’s park event on August 4, breaking the record of Margery Hinton, who was 13 years and 44 days when she swam at Amsterdam in 1928.
‘It is a crazy feeling,’ said Brown, speaking from her home in California on Thursday after being confirmed in Team GB’s skateboarding squad alongside 14-year-old Bombette Martin. ‘It is more than a dream come true. I am so stoked. I am going to try my best for Britain.’
Sky Brown has delighted in becoming Britain’s youngest ever Olympian ahead of Tokyo 2020
The skateboarder will be 13 years and 11 days old when she competes later this summer
Brown, who was born in Japan to a British father and Japanese mother, goes into the Games ranked third in the world, having also won a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships aged 11.
‘I am so excited to go there and hopefully getting gold and inspiring people,’ she said.
‘If you go to the skate park, it is mostly boys there, but I feel like if girls watch the Olympics, they are going to want to do it. I feel like if I am the little one going big then hopefully they will think that “maybe I can do it”.’
Last year, Brown’s dad Stewart said his daughter was ‘lucky to be alive’ after a horror accident in training when she fell off a high ramp and fractured her skull.
Brown, who is ranked No 3 in the world, hopes she can inspire other girls to do skateboarding
‘I was knocked out for 12 to 16 hours,’ recalled Brown. ‘It was a really tough time but I recovered really fast. I wasn’t scared at all to get back on the board. I actually felt stronger and I wanted to do more things.’
Brown’s team-mate Martin lives in New York, where she was born, and has qualified for the Games in 18th position. Her name is inspired by her dad Jon, a former amateur boxer from Birmingham who was nicknamed ‘Bomber’ and almost made the British team for Atlanta 1996.
Martin said: ‘I guess my dad is living vicariously through me! I am still so overwhelmed. It’s kind of crazy that I’ll be able to say that I’m an Olympian for the rest of my life.’