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Sky Brown

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Sky Brown
スカイ・ブラウン
Brown at the 2024 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Born (2008-07-07) 7 July 2008 (age 16)
Miyazaki, Japan
Years active2016–present
Japanese name
Kanjiブラウン 澄海
Kanaブラウン スカイ
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportSkateboarding
PositionGoofy footed
Rank4th (2024)[1]
EventPark
Medal record
Women's park skateboarding
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2020 Tokyo Park
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Paris Park
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2019 São Paulo Park
Gold medal – first place 2023 Sharjah Park
X Games
Gold medal – first place 2021 California Park
Gold medal – first place 2022 California Park
Dew Tour
Silver medal – second place 2021 Des Moines Park
Gold medal – first place 2022 Des Moines Park

Sky Brown (スカイ・ブラウン, Sukai Buraun, born 7 July 2008)[2][3] is a British-Japanese professional skateboarder and surfer who competes for Great Britain. She was the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, and has also won the American TV programme Dancing with the Stars: Juniors. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the park event, making her the country's youngest ever medallist. She repeated this feat by winning bronze for a second time in park at the 2024 Summer Olympics. In addition, she won the same event at the 2023 World Skateboarding Championship.

Early life

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Brown was born in Miyazaki, Japan. Her mother, Mieko, is Japanese, and her father, Stuart,[4] is British.[5][6][7] She has a younger brother, Ocean Brown. In Japanese, her given name is written in kana as スカイ (Sukai) or in kanji as 澄海 (Sukai); as is standard for non-traditional Japanese names, her family name is written only in kana script.[8][9]

Her British father lived in the United States for several years before moving to Japan.[10] Brown lives in Miyazaki, but spends around half the year in the US.[10] Her family are skateboarders, and her preschool had a skate park.[11] She has a skating ramp in her back garden,[12] as there are no skate parks in her home area of Takanabe, Miyazaki.[9] In addition to skateboarding, Brown also surfs.[6][12][13]

Career

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Skateboarding

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Brown does not have a skateboarding coach; instead she learns tricks from YouTube.[10][14] She sometimes practices with Shaun White, who won Olympic snowboarding medals.[10]

2016–2017: Early competitions

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In 2016, at the age of 8, Brown took part in the Vans US Open, making her the youngest person ever to compete at the event.[5] She fell off her skateboard in a heat.[11] In 2017, she came second in the Asian Continental Finals,[15] and she finished in the top 10 of the 2018 Vans Park Series.[15]

2018: Turning professional

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In 2018, at the age of 10, Brown became a professional athlete, making her the youngest professional skateboarder in the world.[11] The same year, she won the US TV show Dancing with the Stars: Juniors.[5][11][12]

2019: Competing for Team GB

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In February 2019, she won the Simple Session event in Tallinn, Estonia.[5][15]

In March 2019, Brown announced that she would compete for Great Britain, having previously said that she would compete for Japan.[15] She said that she favoured the "more relaxed approach" of the British Skateboarding Association.[11] She was one of five Britons awarded funding from UK Sport that year as they worked to qualify for the skateboarding events at the 2020 Summer Olympics, the first time the sport was included in the Games.[6]

In 2019, Brown placed 3rd in the park event at the 2019 World Skateboarding Championship in São Paulo[10] and became the first female to land a frontside 540 at the X Games.[10] She finished 5th at the X Games skateboarding event.[8]

2020: Training injury

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On 28 May 2020, while training in California, she suffered a "horrific" fall from a halfpipe ramp which left her with several skull fractures and a broken left wrist and hand.[16] She was flown to a hospital and was reported as being unresponsive on arrival. Her father said afterwards that she was "lucky to be alive", whilst Brown herself said it was her worst fall yet. Nevertheless, she remained determined to push boundaries and compete for gold at the Tokyo Olympics.[17]

2021: X Games gold and Tokyo Olympics bronze

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In July 2021, she won the X Games women's skateboarding park gold medal.[18][19]

Brown represented Great Britain in skateboarding at the pandemic-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in August 2021.[20] Brown was the youngest British Summer Olympian ever, at the age of 13, beating Margery Hinton who was 13 years and 43 days when she competed in the 200 metre breaststroke event at the 1928 Summer Olympics.[21] Brown was not the youngest competitor at the Games — Syrian table tennis player Hend Zaza and Japanese skateboarder Cocona Hiraki were younger.[22][23]

Brown won the bronze medal in the women's park skateboarding event at the 2020 Summer Olympics and became Great Britain’s youngest ever medal winner, at the age of 13 years and 28 days.[24] She fell in her first two runs at the event and scored 56.47 in her final attempt. Brown was not the youngest medallist at the Games, as 12-year-old Cocona Hiraki of Japan won silver in the same event.[25]

In late 2021, it was announced that some of Brown's skateboards would be displayed at the renovated Young V&A in London.[26]

2022–2023

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In 2022, Brown retained her X Games title, and also won the Dew Tour event for the second year in a row.[27] She won the park event at the World Skateboarding Championship in 2023,[28] becoming the first British skateboarding world champion.[29]

2024: Paris Olympics bronze

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In June 2024, Brown qualified for the park event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[30] She joined a team that consisted of 2022 British Champion Lola Tambling and 22-time Summer X Games medallist Andy Macdonald. This team was not only notable for their individual records, but also in the skaters' age gap, with both Tambling and Brown being 16 and Macdonald being 51 years old at the time of competing.[31]

Surfing

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In April 2021, Brown said that she was also considering trying to compete in surfing at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, though she ultimately only competed in skateboarding.[32]

In March 2024, she competed at the ISA World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico, in hopes of qualifying to compete in surfing at the 2024 Summer Olympics, in addition to skateboarding, but was not successful in doing so after placing 3rd in her heat.[33]

Awards

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On 19 December 2021, Brown won the 2021 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award; she was shortlisted again in 2022 and 2024.[34][35] In April 2022, she won the Comeback of the Year award for 2021 at the Laureus World Sports Awards.[36]

Sponsorships

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In 2019, Brown became the youngest-ever Nike-sponsored athlete in the world.[37][38] She has featured in a Nike campaign alongside Serena Williams and Simone Biles.[6] She is also supported by Almost Skateboards and Skateistan.[11]

Competition history

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International competitions

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Representing  Great Britain
Year Competition Venue Rank Event Notes
2019 World Championship[39] São Paulo, Brazil 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Park —
2021 Summer Olympics[40] Tokyo, Japan 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Park —
2023 World Championship[41] Sharjah, UAE 1st place, gold medalist(s) Park —
2024 Summer Olympics[42] Paris, France 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Park —

Skateboarding contests

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Year Competition Venue Rank Event Notes
2019 X Games[43] Minneapolis, Minnesota 5 Park —
2021 Dew Tour[44] Des Moines, Iowa 2nd place, silver medalist(s) Park —
X Games[43] Southern California 1st place, gold medalist(s) Park —
2022 X Games[43] Southern California 1st place, gold medalist(s) Park —
Dew Tour[45] Des Moines, Iowa 1st place, gold medalist(s) Park —

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
2018 Dancing with the Stars: Juniors Herself Contestant; winner
2022 The Tiny Chef Show Herself Episode: "Snap Pea Stir Fry"
2022 Hell's Kitchen: Battle of the Ages Herself Episode: "Clawing Their Way to the Top"
2025 Sneaks TBA (voice) In production

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "World Skateboarding Ranking – Women's Park". Archived from the original on 5 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  2. ^ Licata, Alexandra (16 June 2019). "東京オリンピック出場に期待！ 10歳の天才スケートボーダー、スカイ・ブラウンとは" [Expected to participate in the Tokyo Olympics! About 10-year-old genius skateboarder Sky Brown]. Business Insider (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  3. ^ Bull, Andy (4 August 2021). "Sky Brown, 13, becomes Britain's youngest Olympic medallist with skateboard bronze". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 August 2021. At half-past 10 on Wednesday morning, Sky Brown, 13 years and 28 days old, tipped forward on her board and dropped into the scalded concrete bowl of the Olympic skate park.
  4. ^ "Who are Sky Brown's parents? The life of Britain's youngest Olympian". 22 July 2021. Archived from the original on 4 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d "Sky Brown: The 10-year-old British skateboarder aiming to make history at Tokyo". BBC Sport. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  6. ^ a b c d "Sky Brown: Skateboarder, 10, chooses Great Britain Olympic team". CNN. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Meet the four park skateboarding teenage prodigies ready for action". Olympics.com. 2 August 2021. Archived from the original on 2 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  8. ^ a b "世界が注目、マルチなスーパー小学生" [The world's attention for elementary schoolchild]. Kyodo News (in Japanese). 11 September 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  9. ^ a b "小学生が東京五輪目指す" [Elementary school student aims for the Tokyo Olympics]. Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). 4 August 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Reynolds, Tom (13 February 2020). "Sky Brown: Meet the 11-year-old girl set to become Britain's youngest summer Olympian". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Licata, Alexandra (10 June 2019). "Meet Sky Brown, the 10-year-old skateboarder on pace to shake up the 2020 Tokyo Olympics". Business Insider. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  12. ^ a b c Williams, Rebecca (6 January 2020). "Skateboarder, 11, hopes to become Britain's youngest ever summer Olympian". Sky News. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  13. ^ McCombs, Dave; Katanuma, Marika (5 June 2019). "Can This 10-Year-Old Girl Save the Olympics?". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  14. ^ "Olympic Skateboarder Sky Brown On Success, Surfing And Beating 'The Big Boys'". ELLE. 28 March 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  15. ^ a b c d Ingle, Sean (13 March 2019). "Sky Brown: 10-year-old skateboarder set to compete for Team GB at Olympics". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  16. ^ Morse, Ben (2 June 2020). "Skateboarder Sky Brown, 11, hospitalized after horrific fall". CNN. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Sky Brown: Skateboarder, 11, 'lucky to be alive' after horrific fall". BBC Sport. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Sky Brown wins gold in Women's Skateboard Park". X Games. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  19. ^ "Women's Skateboard Park Medal Table 2021 X Games". X Games. Archived from the original on 25 July 2022. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
  20. ^ "Sky Brown: 12-year-old skateboarder picked for GB Olympic team". bbc.co.uk. 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  21. ^ "Sky Brown set to become Britain's youngest summer Olympian". ESPN. 10 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  22. ^ "Hend Zaza, 11-year-old Syrian table tennis player, qualifies for Olympics". The Guardian. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  23. ^ "Skateboarder Kokona Hiraki to become Japan's youngest Olympian". The Japan Times. 25 May 2021. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  24. ^ "GB's Brown, 13, wins skateboarding bronze". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
  25. ^ "Sky Brown: who is the Team GB skateboarder? Where is Sky Brown from and why is she competing for Great Britain?". The Scotsman. 4 August 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  26. ^ "Olympic star Sky Brown's skateboard to be star attraction at £13m Young V&A museum for children". i. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  27. ^ "Skateboarder Sky Brown Reclaims Her Crown As Women's Park Queen At Dew Tour Des Moines 2022". Forbes. 30 July 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  28. ^ "Skateboarding World Championships: Britain's Sky Brown wins park gold". BBC Sport. 12 February 2023. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  29. ^ Sinclair, Luke (13 February 2023). "Sky Brown, 14, becomes the first British skateboarding world champion". Herald.Wales. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  30. ^ "GB's Brown, 15, and Macdonald, 50, reach Paris 2024". BBC Sport. 23 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
  31. ^ "Who is Andy MacDonald? The skateboarder 'representing the old guys' at Olympics". The Independent. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  32. ^ "Olympics: Sky's the limit for British skateboard prodigy Brown". Reuters. 1 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  33. ^ "Sky Brown fails in Olympic bid after swapping her skateboard for surfboard | Sky Brown | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  34. ^ "Young Sports Personality 2022: Sky Brown, Jessica Gadirova & Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix on shortlist". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
  35. ^ "Sports Personality 2021: Sky Brown named Young Sports Personality of the Year". BBC Sport. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  36. ^ "Laureus World Sports Awards: Emma Raducanu, Sky Brown and Bethany Shriever all winners". Sky Sports. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2022.
  37. ^ Edwards, Luke (10 September 2019). "Sky Brown, 11-year-old skateboarder and would-be Olympian: 'I want to show girls all over the world what is possible by making it to Tokyo 2020'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 March 2020.
  38. ^ "Sky Brown: Britain's youngest-ever Olympic medallist leads new generation in Paris". The Independent. 25 July 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  39. ^ "PODIUM POSITION FOR 11-YEAR-OLD SKY AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS". Skateboarding GB. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  40. ^ "Biography: Sky Brown". Olympics.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  41. ^ Jiwani, Rory (12 February 2023). "Skateboarding Park World Championships 2022 in 2023: Sky Brown claims first world title". Olympics.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  42. ^ "Sky Brown wins skateboarding park bronze for Team GB at Paris 2024 Olympics". BBC Sport. 6 August 2024. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  43. ^ a b c "Sky Brown". X Games. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  44. ^ Associated Press (1 July 2021). "Skateboarder Sky Brown, Britain's youngest Summer Olympian ever, was just in Des Moines for the Dew Tour". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  45. ^ Tulloch, Ash (22 July 2022). "Sky Brown wins women's park event at 2022 Dew Tour as Gustavo Ribeiro takes men's street skateboard title". Olympics.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
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