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04th Aug 2021

Tokyo Olympics: Sky Brown becomes Britain’s youngest ever medallist, aged 13

Danny Jones

Sky Brown becomes Team GB's youngest ever medalist after winning a bronze in the skateboarding

Sky Brown took home the bronze in the skateboarding

After having made history by simply being selected for Tokyo 2020 – becoming the youngest Brit ever to be selected for the summer Games – Sky Brown has now added her first Olympic medal to that record, making her Team GB‘s youngest ever medallist. Amazing stuff.

The 13-year-old was one of several teenagers who dominated the women’s park final, with Misugu Okamoto, 15, and Kokona Hiraki, 12, heading in as favourites. Ultimately, it was 19-year-old Sakura Yosozumi who took home the gold, but nobody could take their eyes off the raw talent on show at such a young age wherever they looked.

Brown, who was born in Japan, got off to a shaky start, having struggled to complete her first two attempts in the event, eventually managed to put in a really good run which saw her finish with a best score of 57.40. Just watch.

She finished on a real high as she spoke to the BBC: “Everyone has been ripping. It is awesome to be here. I didn’t think about the scores. But I am really stoked on that score – very stoked.” Imagine winning an Olympic medal at 13?

As if the achievement wasn’t incredible enough, whats makes this even more remarkable is the fact that she managed to come back from a serious injury back in 2020, in which she suffered a fractured skull and several broken bones after a bad fall in training. She was just 11 at the time.

The teenager posted a video clip of the fall on her Instagram account, along with the message: “I’m excited to come back even stronger and even tougher. My heart wants to go so hard right now.”

Warning: the footage is distressing but Brown speaks very passionately and maturely f0r her age and we’re over the moon to see her overcome this obstacle bring yet home another Olympic medal for Great Britain!

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