Sky Brown exclusive on chasing more Olympic history: 'Qualifying for both surfing and skating has been a big dream of mine'
Don’t tell Sky Brown she can’t do something. It might have the opposite effect. Olympics.com spoke to the teen superstar about her ambitious goal of becoming the first athlete to qualify for skateboarding and surfing at an Olympic Games, what her perfect day would look like, and why mermaids are her latest style icons.
Sky Brown has a tough decision to make before the crack of dawn every morning.
Should she go surf or skate?
As someone who has defied the odds since she was a pre-schooler, Sky Brown naturally does not settle for just one.
“I wake up and I think I'm going to do both every day. I always just want to do both,” the British skateboarder and surfer told Olympics.com.
“In the morning, it's a good time to surf, to wake me up, and that's why I get up early so I can go surfing. And then skating, it's good for the middle of the day while it's hot. I like to try to fit them both in. That's what I love to do.”
Brown is channelling that passion for the two board sports into her next ambitious goal.
She became the youngest ever Olympian and Olympic medallist from Great Britain when she won bronze in the women’s park event at Tokyo 2020, and is now aspiring to become the first athlete to qualify in both skateboarding and surfing at an Olympic Games.
“Qualifying for surfing and skating, it's been a big dream of mine,” Brown said ahead of the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games, which will determine if she gets on a plane to Tahiti in five months’ time.
“I know that's a big dream, but that's what I love to do. I love to surf. I love to skate.”
Sky Brown’s perfect day of surf and skate
It is easy to see just how unique Sky Brown is when she starts to describe her ideal day.
While most fellow 15-year-olds would opt for a few extra hours of sleep in the morning, Brown is thrilled when she can begin hers before sunrise.
“My perfect day is where I wake up around five, get in the water for a few hours. The waves will be pumping, the waves will be good,” she said. “Then eat some Japanese food that my mum makes, that's my favourite. Do some school. And then probably get into the skate park and get some skate tricks, maybe some new ones. And then if the waves are pumping still, go back in the water.”
It may seem like an intense daily routine, but Brown is not exaggerating.
With the exception of her mother’s cooking, it is exactly what her schedule looked like on the opening day of the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games.
Brown was one of the first surfers out on the waves in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. After almost three hours of surfing, she picked up her custom-designed purple skateboard to cruise through the athletes’ parade. As the other athletes filed out of the Opening Ceremony, the Olympic medallist pulled out her surfboard again and ran to the water.
In between these moments, there was a hunt for ice cream – unsuccessful, so Brown settled for juice and a bowl of fruit – a hug with Olympic surfing champion Carissa Moore and a handful of interactions with skateboarding fans, including letting one local show her a trick on her own board.
“It's been really cool,” the skateboarding world champion said of her World Surfing Games debut. “Getting out in the water with the world's best surfers from all over the world, it's really cool just being in there surfing with them, sharing some waves with them.”
Airs, style and fearlessness: What skateboarding taught Sky Brown about surfing
The idea to fight for Olympic qualification in two sports came to Brown long before she set her sights on Paris 2024. The teen athlete took up these sports at the same time and planned to compete in both at Tokyo 2020. Ultimately, however, she decided in favour of skateboarding.
The choice paid off as Brown walked off with her first Olympic medal. This success in skateboarding also gave her a confidence boost that she could excel in surfing as well.
“Skateboarding helps me with surfing,” Brown said. “A lot of my airs come from skating.”
Style is another trait that has carried over smoothly from the skate park to the ocean waves.
Without a strict set of rules, both sports favour athletes who can showcase complex skills with a dash of personality – something that comes naturally to Brown.
“I definitely like to have my own style in skateboarding. I want my skateboarding and surfing to look like a dance, to make it look beautiful,” said Brown, who counts dancing as another of her many talents. She won the Dancing with the Stars: Juniors television show in 2018 at the age of 10.
“I always thought of it as a dance…how high [people] go and then tweaking in the air, making it look as beautiful as they can," she continued. “I feel like that's my style. I like to make skating look beautiful, but also powerful and strong.
“Surfing too. I like to make it look like a mermaid on the wave, but also look powerful and strong.”
Sky Brown’s playgrounds: From concrete skate parks to unpredictable waters
While skateboarding and surfing share much in common, there is one important difference - in surfing, the playing field is in constant motion.
“Skating is definitely easier because the bowl is there, and you can do it over and over again on the same ramp,” Brown said. “[Surfing], it always moves, so it's really hard to learn a new trick. You can't find the same wave, the same section every time.”
“There's a lot more going on in your head in the water because once you're up, then you think about what to do on the waves. But in the water, you also have to find the wave. So it's a lot to think about, but skating, once you're in the bowl, it's on you.”
There are other perils of the sea that Brown has had to face on her quest to become an Olympic surfer. Spiky reefs and sea urchins are just some of them.
But however great the challenge of the open water, Brown relishes it all.
“Being able to practise my runs [in a bowl], I feel that makes you feel very comfortable and just takes a lot off,” she said. “But I feel like the ocean is more… it's exciting! You have to really work with nature, and that makes it really exciting.”
Sky Brown’s answer for the doubters: “Thank you, next”
Whether she is fighting the elements on the waters, attacking a new trick at the skate park, or giving an interview in between her intense training sessions in Puerto Rico with roosters crowing in the background - nothing seems to faze the multi-talented teenager.
Despite her young age, Brown does not let anything derail her focus, especially when it comes to her ambitious goal of earning Olympic quotas in skateboarding and surfing*.
There are eight individual quotas up for grabs in the women's competition at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games, which serves as the final qualifier for Paris 2024. It is an uphill climb, but Brown has an answer ready for those who doubt she is capable of clinching one of those spots:
“When I hear, ‘You can't do it’, it puts a fire in my heart. It makes you want to prove them wrong and prove them wrong hard, so I guess, ‘Thank you, but no thank you'."
“I definitely have been told, ‘Oh, I can't do that’. Or, ‘You're just a girl’ ... I think I proved them wrong, and I want to do that again. To qualify for both, it is a big goal, but I believe in myself and I'm going to try my best," Sky Brown to Olympics.com
Watch Sky Brown and other Paris 2024 hopefuls in action at the 2024 ISA World Surfing Games from anywhere in the world starting on 24 February through the Olympic Channel livestreams on Olympics.com and the official Olympics app.
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.