This Sky has no limits: a skateboarding prodigy targets the Tokyo Olympics
PLEASE NOTE THIS EDIT CONTAINS A WHITE FLASH
SHOWS: HUNTINGTON, BEACH, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES. (RECENT) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL)
1. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SKY BROWN SAYING
"So I think girls can do anything boys can do and maybe even better. Sometimes I think girls are scared to do what boys are doing. You know,
'It's a boy's sport. I can't do that but actually you can do anything that boys can do."
2. MORE OF SKY BROWN TRAINING
3. GOPRO FOOTAGE FROM BROWN'S HELMET
3. (SOUNDBITE)(English) SKY BROWN SAYING
Reuters reporter Rory Carroll: "You decided to go with team GB instead of Japan. Cam you talk about how that decision was made and why?"
Sky Brown: "Well we weren't going to do the Olympics because my parents thought it was too much pressure but then Team GB, Lucy Adams, she's like the boss of the Skateboarding Association, she said 'There's no pressure. Just get out there and have fun and that the way I skate. I don't think of it as a training thing but I think of it more as my happy place. It's like a playground for me."
STORY: Sky Brown, the 11-year-old skateboarding prodigy who is poised to become Britain's youngest ever Olympian at the 2020 Tokyo Games, has already amassed an enviable resume.
Pro skateboarder, surfing phenom, Dancing with the Stars: Juniors champion and determined philanthropist, the charismatic Brown is transforming our understanding of what the next generation is capable of.
Brown, who was born in Japan to a British father and Japanese mother, took a big step towards making Team GB's Olympic squad with a third place finish at the World Championships in Brazil earlier this month.
Initially her parents Stu and Mieko thought the pressure of competing at the Tokyo Games, where skateboarding will make it Olympic debut, would be too much for her.
But they had a change of heart after speaking to Skateboard GB chair Lucy Adams.
"She said there is no pressure, just get out there and have fun," Brown told Reuters.
"And that's the way I skate. I don't really think of it as a training thing. I think of it more as my happy place. It's like a playground for me."
Brown is passionate about making sure that playground, which has traditionally been the domain of men and boys, is open to everyone.
"Sometimes girls are scared to do what boys are doing because they're like, it's a boy's sport. But actually they can do anything that boys can do," she said.
"Why I want to be in the Olympics is to inspire girls and hopefully when they see me, this little girl doing these crazy tricks, hopefully when they see me they'll think, maybe I can do that too."
If she qualifies, Brown will be 12 years and 12 days old when the Games begin in July 2020, eclipsing the record set by swimmer Margery Hinton who was 13 years and 43 days old when she competed at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Unlike many other Olympic sports, skateboarding does not have an age requirement for its athletes.
(Production: Peter Bullock)
