11-year-old skateboarder on her way to becoming the youngest female Summer Olympian in 50 years
On Saturday, 11-year-old Sky Brown took third place at the world skateboarding championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil, setting herself up to become the youngest female Summer Olympian in 50 years when the sport makes its debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Brown scored 58.13 points, the highest of her four attempts, in the final round of the park event. Japanese teenagers Misugu Okamoto, 13, and Sakura Yosozumi, 17, took first and second place, respectively.
Brown represents Great Britain, but was raised in Japan by a Japanese mother and a British father, according to NBC. She won the 2018 edition of “Dancing with the Stars: Juniors,” and was subsequently featured in Nike’s famous “Dream Crazier” commercial earlier this year.
Born July 12, 2008, Brown will turn 12 ahead of the 2020 Games, which will be the first to feature skateboarding (men’s and women’s park and street). She will be the youngest Olympian since Romanian rower Carlos Front in 1992, and the youngest female since China’s Liu Luyang, an ice dancer, in 1988.
She’ll be the youngest female Summer Olympian since Puerto Rican swimmer Liana Vicens in 1968, according to the OlyMADMen, as first reported by NBC.
Skateboarding’s Olympic qualifying period began Jan. 1, 2019, and runs through May 31, 2020. The system is based on points earned by competing in World Skate sanctioned events.
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