Japanese skateboarders reign, taking gold and silver as teens sweep the podium

Japan maintained their perfect record in the skateboarding competition as 19-year-old Sakura Yosozumi became her country’s latest gold medalist in the debuting Olympic sport at the Ariake Urban Sports Park on Wednesday.

Yosozumi, 19, won the top prize in the women’s skateboard park event ahead of teammate Kokona Hiraki, 12, who is the youngest silver medalist in Olympic history.

Great Britain’s Sky Brown clinched bronze, becoming her country’s youngest Olympic medalist at age 13.

The host nation built on their early success in the Olympics skateboarding having won the men’s street skateboarding gold through Yuto Horigome, 22, and his compatriot Momiji Nishiya, 13, claimed top spot in the women’s street event.

“Two Japanese skateboarders, Hiraki and I got medals today. I’m proud of this,” said Yosozumi.

When asked about Japan’s success in the competition, Yosozumi said the sport is very popular among young people.

“We like to skateboard. This competition which was held at my country made us stronger from what we used to be. I want everyone to love skateboarding. I hope that it will be a famous sport in Japan.”

Silver medalist Hiraki said: “I’m happy to get medal. I really enjoyed today’s competition. I thought about my own performance so I wasn’t concerned with others’ performances.”

“I really enjoyed the heats. This experience is my treasure. I want to be a cool skateboarder. I will keep going to this dream and I want to go to America in the future.”

Britain’s Brown, who found instant fame at home after a bold display earned her a famous medal, said: “I’m so stoked. I can’t believe it. It’s unbelievable. It was like a dream.

“I really hope I inspire young girls, I feel like people aren’t too young that they can’t do it, but if you believe in yourself you can do anything. I believed in myself.

“Anyone can do skateboarding. You don’t have to be of a certain height or have to be a certain age, you can do it whenever you want. It doesn’t matter about height or age. You just got to skate and go for it.”

Japan has won five of the nine skateboarding medals on offer so far.

The men’s park event brings the four-day skateboarding competition to a close on Thursday with Japan pinning their hopes on their only representative in 22-year-old Ayumu Hirano.

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