No pressure for Sky Brown: "I'm playing in my playground"
Great Britain's youngest Olympic medallist will begin her skateboarding qualification journey for Paris 2024 at the Park World Championships in Sharjah. In an Olympics.com exclusive, the 14-year-old prodigy talks about being a role model, pressure and why she’s excited for what’s next.
Skateboarding
She may only be 14 years old, but Sky Brown has already had a huge impact on skateboarding.
After winning bronze in the inaugural women’s park contest at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 to become Team GB’s youngest ever Olympic medallist, the country has witnessed a ‘Sky Brown’ effect.
Last year, statistics revealed that young women taking up skateboarding in the country's capital has jumped by 800 percent in the last five years with Brown’s performance at the Games a key driver for empowering girls to take to the skate park.
For all that the teen has achieved so far: winning an Olympic medal, X Games and Dew Tour titles and Dancing with the Stars Juniors, and releasing a pop single, being an inspiration to women is one of the things that matters most to her.
“It’s been my dream for a while just to inspire girls,” Brown told Olympics.com. “Not even just skateboarding, just whatever they want to do.
“I want to inspire them to do it because you only get one life, and you can’t let the boys stop you from doing it. Do it. Don’t care what people think.”
Spending most of her time in California, the Briton devotes her days to surfing and skateboarding, two sports she hopes to compete in at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. It is when she is out working on the latter that she often sees for herself the extent of her influence.
She says, "Just seeing these little girls come up to me and wearing my helmet, skating and using my skateboard... it’s really cool.
"It makes me want to push even harder, so I’m really thankful."
Sky Brown: Skateboarding and surfing for Paris 2024
With a shared passion for skateboarding and surfing, Brown says it is her intention to try and qualify for both sports at Paris 2024.
Though she admitted it might be tricky, the young star simply cannot choose between the two of them.
And having forged a reputation for her resilience, Brown is staying true to her attitude of doing something without caring what others think:
"I really hope I can get in for surfing and skateboarding. It would be really cool because I love them so much, and I want to show the world you don’t just have to do one sport.”
Qualifying for both means a busy 18 months ahead which begins at the Park Skateboarding World Championships in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Around 200 skaters are expected to take part including Yosozumi and Kokona, the two Japanese women she shared the podium with back in Tokyo.
Any notion of rivalry between the three is quickly dismissed with Yosozumi a close friend ever since Brown's early years in Miyazaki.
Brown's family would sometimes drive for hours to ensure their daughter had someone to look up to in the skateboard world, and the Olympic gold medallist has served as one of her role models:
"Sakura! I look up to Sakura a lot. She really pushes me. When she posts clips I am like, 'Ah!' I really want to post some clips too. She really hypes me up."
Being with Yosozumi and her other friends is one of the reasons Brown is particuarly looking forward to the upcoming Worlds, where she says she's looking forward to the challenge:
“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 other: I can’t wait."
Sky Brown: Great Britain's star skateboarder
Since her Olympic breakthrough in 2021, Brown has continued to post impressive performances on the competition scene.
Last year she claimed wins at Summer X Games and Dew Tour, beating Olympic medallists Yosozumi Sakura and Hiraki Kokona on both occasions.
Brown's victories over the top park skaters from Japan is a strong indication of her position at the top of the sport, but it also means there are ever-increasing expectations for her to excel.
The Briton, however, isn’t too fazed by that attention. As far as she is concerned, she is doing what she loves and having the time of her life:
“Skating and surfing – it's my playground. It’s what I love to do: it’s my happy place.
“Honestly, I don’t have much pressure. I don’t really have any pressure. It seems like a lot but I’m doing what I love. I’m playing in my playground; it’s really easy for me.”
Even knowing there are lots of young eyes following her journey, which before her Olympic debut included a remarkable footnote in resilience after sustaining life-threatening injuries in a skateboarding accident, Brown insists being in the spotlight has a positive impact on her.
“It’s not really pressure, but I do really want to inspire other girls, inspire people out there and that does give me a boost of fire, and gives me a reason to, you know? Gives me a reason to push harder. It’s like, I want to do it for them."