Sky Brown on skateboarding, surfing and Paris 2024: “Life’s too short, you've got to try all different kinds of things”

"That bronze medal... it’s crazy. It’s definitely done so much for my life,” Sky Brown tells Olympics.com from Huntingdon Beach, near her California home.

The 14-year-old has been on a rollercoaster ride ever since she completed the women’s skateboarding park podium at Tokyo 2020, in 2021 to become Great Britain’s youngest ever Olympic medallist.

Her life-transforming journey to the Games in Japan wasn't all smooth. Aged 13, she suffered a fractured skull and broken left wrist during half-pipe training just weeks before she was due to make Olympic history.

Then, having recovered in time to compete, she twice failed to land a kickflip indy in the final leaving her in fourth place ahead of her last run. But instead of cracking under the pressure Brown rose to the occasion. Showing maturity and perseverance well beyond her years, she landed the trick in her final run, enough to send her into third place.

“To have an Olympic bronze medal is really cool and I want to do It again. It made me want to push even harder and it made me want to feel that feeling of being on the podium with my best friends.

“Going to the Olympics again would be really cool. It was the best journey ever and it was the best moment ever.”

True to her words, Brown, who is also a talented surfer, has stayed committed to getting better so that she can make her Olympic goal a reality. That means for the teen several hours a day at the skatepark and in the water practicing her two favourite sports.

“I go to in the ocean in the morning and then I do school, I eat breakfast then chill with my family for a little bit,” Brown says detailing a typical day in her life.

“Around noon-ish, I like to go skate for a few hours, come back and hang out with my friends or do something fun. Maybe I’ll go back in the water with my friends or just chill at home.”

So much is her obsession for surfing and skating she says if she could pick a superpower, it would be teleportation so she could switch between the two more easily: “I think teleporting would be really cool!”

The results of all of Brown’s hard work are already plain to see.

Earlier this year, Brown won the Skateboard Park title at Summer X Games 2022, beating Olympic gold and silver medallists Yosozumi Sakura and Hiraki Kokona, before then going on to repeat the achievement at 2022 Dew Tour in Des Moines, Iowa a few days later.

Despite her notoriety, growing list of accolades, and obvious skill, Brown says she still finds herself being treated differently because of her age and her gender.

“I do get told I’m too young quite a bit. I get that look from like a guy that skates, like what is this little girl doing here? It comes every now and then,” she explains.

But rather than let those people hold her back, Brown uses their judgements as motivation to show why she can kick it as much as anyone else:

“It’s definitely getting better because there's definitely a lot more girls doing it, and honestly, I like it when people do it. It makes me want to show off and prove them wrong. It’s a good feeling: I like proving people wrong.”

With an equal love of both surfing and skateboarding, Brown is hoping to tread where none have gone before and secure qualification for both sports at Paris 2024 for Team GB.

“It’ll be really tricky,” Brown admits, but for her, choosing between the two is almost as hard.

“People ask me, which one I like better, and I can’t pick. Like last year it was hard for me to just do skateboarding. I really wanted to do surfing.”

For someone who has already inspired an entire generation back in her home country for not only her skateboarding style, but her resilience too, it’s not surprising that Brown wants to continue to set an example.

“I really hope I can get in for surfing and skateboarding, it would be really cool because I love them both so much and I want to show the world that you don’t just have to do one sport.

“Life's too short,” she affirms “You've got to try all different kinds of things, you know?”

But before the Games in Paris 2024 are several other events awaiting Brown including the upcoming park skateboarding world championships, which the Briton already has in her sights:

“I'm so excited for the world championships. I have so much fun there. All the girls from all around the world coming and skating in this one big park and getting runs, pushing each other: I can't wait.”