There was a time when there weren't many girls on skateboards and those ones who loved and practiced this discipline were considered just tomboys. But in this sweltering summer, amid a global pandemic, climate crisis and endless debates about vaccinations and Health/Green Passports, skateboarding girls have turned into an inspiration and stole the spotlight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
In July we saw Rayssa Leal of Brazil (skateboard fans may remember this video posted on her Instagram account and Facebook page of when she was a little girl in a turquoise fairy princess costume and she showed determination in successfully completing a heelflip) and Momiji Nishiya of Japan, both 13, winning silver and gold, respectively, in the Women’s Street Skateboarding event (the bronze for this discipline went to Funa Nakayama of Japan, 16).
Momiji Nishiya became the sport's first female gold medalist and it was humbling to see the two young medallists hugging at the end of the competition, congratulating each other.
But there were more successes in the last few days: Sakura Yosozumi of Japan, 19, claimed gold; Kokona Hiraki her teammate, aged 12 (the youngest competitor in the event and the Games' youngest medalist since 1928 when Italian Luigina Giavotti, 11 years and 302 days, won the silver medal as a member of the Italian gymnastics team at the Amsterdam Games) won silver, and Sky Brown, from Team GB, who turned 13 just 11 days before the opening ceremony, won bronze in the Women's Park Skateboarding at the beginning of August.
Brown has a Japanese mother and the family spend half the year in Japan and another half in California, where she practices skates and surfing. She and Yosozumi often skate together and Kokona is also a friend, so the three young athletes were overjoyed as they shared the podium. At a press conference Brown, positively beaming, stated "Everyone ripped!"
The evolution of skateboarding is fascinating: a symbol of counterculture, favoured by kids who reclaim the streets and the urban environment often ending up being considered as dangerous vandals engaged in antisocial behavior rather than as skilled athletes, skateboarding was approved for inclusion in the next Olympic Games in August 2016. Skateboarding was one of four sports added to the Olympics, alongside surfing, climbing and karate.
The discipline was divided in two events, "Park skate" and "Street Skate": the former includes three 45-second runs featuring 8 to 10 tricks (the best counted); the latter (taking place on a straighter course), features two 45-second runs but athletes get five attempts at the best trick (the four best scores out of seven count).
The most interesting point about the runs is the fact that they are completely put together by the skaters: in other disciplines such as gymnastics you may have a figure inspired by the name of the athlete who first tried it, and you're expected to respect a specific programme. In Olympic skateboarding, the spectacle depends not just from the skaters' speed and style, but also from the tricks they pick and from the way they combine them together.
The athletes' minimum age requirement for this sport is the one set by their home countries and for most nations is set at 13 (there are countries with higher minimums and some, including Hong Kong and the Russian Federation, that require competitors to be 18).
The fact that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were postponed because of Coronavirus actually played in favour of these athletes who may have needed a special permit as some of them hadn't turned 13 yet. Sky Brown also had a life-threatening accident falling from a ramp and suffering multiple fractures to her skull, a broken left arm and hand, and lacerations to her heart and lungs, and she may not have been able to recover in time if the games had gone ahead.
The Olympics are changing in different ways, from age barriers to sports disciplines: the age barriers are becoming more flexible, something which is terrifically refreshing and inspiring, as you may get teen athletes like the ones seen in the skateboarding disciplines, but also older ones who are proving us an athlete's career can be extended, like Italian gymnast Vanessa Ferrari, 30, who won a silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games (and got complimented by Nadia Comaneci, the former Romanian child prodigy of the perfect 10 fame at the Montreal Olympics), or Oksana Chusovitina, 46, a gymnast from Uzbekistan, who competed in her eighth Olympic Games in Tokyo, receiving a standing ovation.
Adding skateboarding to the Olympic disciplines has been a great choice: it may be the epitome of street coolness, but it also offers the opportunity to become a professional athlete to people who do not feel the regimented lifestyle of training for more conventional sports suits them.
Even though skateboarding is a difficult discipline, it can be practiced in an open air skatepark or in urban environments, so it doesn’t require an expensive sports venue where you can train (in fact most skaters do not talk of training when they go and practice skateboard...they just go skateboarding) and skaters do not have a coach or manager who orchestrates their lives (though they may have legendary and iconic skaters à la Christian Hosoi, a pro skater and founder of Hosoi Skateboards, as models) and even the events presented at the Olympic Games do not require a personal coach, but the skaters perform their tricks and create their own choreographies.
Another refreshing point about skateboarding is the sense of camaraderie that came out of the competitions, with the athletes cheering for each other. Maybe that happened as most of these athletes were competing to genuinely enjoy themselves rather than just with a medal in mind, something that may spark a healthier approach to sports competitions.
For what regards these young girls, well, you can bet that brands and fashion have already set their eyes on them: while skateboarding shops have reported a rise in sales, the attires of some of these athletes - from Rayssa Leal's stylish khaki cargo pants and polo in the colours of the Brazilian flag to Momiji Nishiya's white trousers matched with a Nike shirt with an abstract representation of a traditional Japanese landscape, or the white overalls donned by Kokona Hiraki - didn't pass unnoticed by the fashion crowds. Who knows, maybe we will see some girl skaters adding some much needed action to the next live fashion shows with their tricks, or skaters becoming an inspiration for fashion collections.
Critics are not so enthusiastic, but claim that the athletes on the women's skateboarding podiums were so young as this discipline is just getting started and some of this edition's winners may not qualify again as the sport becomes more competitive and more professional athletes join the competitions.
For the time being, though, let's hope we will see these athletes growing and shining like bright stars during more Olympic Games. Brown has already stated she wants to try surfing in 2024 rather than skateboarding, but she also hopes to inspire kids from underprivileged places to take skateboarding.
May these reckless and fearless girls turn into fierce women capable of changing the future of other girls and grown-up women as well for the better, pushing boundaries and promoting with their passions and skills gender equality in sports and life.
Comments