Japan's Shirai Sora hopes to heal Tokyo 2020 heartache: 'Paris is everything'
After faltering in his home Olympic Games three years ago, the men's street skateboarding world champion is hungry for redemption at Paris 2024. Read the exclusive interview.
Shirai Sora knows he left something behind at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
And he’s ready to claim it - in Paris this summer.
“I like to think I feel strongly about it more than any Japanese,” Shirai said in an exclusive interview with Olympics.com ahead of this week’s World Skateboarding Tour Dubai Street 2024, the last tour stop before the deciding Olympic Qualifier Series in May and June.
“I went to Tokyo ranked third in the world with a slightly big head and was put in my place, on that mother of a course. It was pure frustration and I know Paris is the only way to make up for it.”
Shirai Sora: Self-proclaimed pessimist at heart
Shirai - whose first name is the Japanese word for sky - would receive a lot of votes from his peers as the most likeable skater on the tour, always providing a laugh for anyone around him. The wins, however, have been harder to come by.
The 22-year-old is about the only one in the world doing 180 ollies into fakie 5-0 on handrails with any kind of regularity, but his mad skills have not always translated into silverware.
In December, he won the Street World Championship in Tokyo, defeating Netsuke Kairi and his pal Horigome Yuto. This victory marked only his second career tour win.
While Shirai may appear to be the life of the party in any room he walks into, he opens up by saying he has a hard time looking on the bright side of things. It is that negativity which has cost him at times, and one which led him to think he wouldn’t win the Worlds on home soil.
“I’m really pessimistic; the glass is always empty for me,” Shirai said. “Everyone was saying I looked good going into the contest but I couldn’t come out and say I was confident, even though deep down inside I felt I might have a shot.
“But since I always come up short I thought for the worse. I know more than anyone what I can and can’t do but if you ask me did I think I could win the championship? Probably not.
“I put on a good front and keep up appearances but I tend to overthink. I start to think of the consequences when I say this or do that. I think it’s both a good and bad part about me - maybe more bad. I worry a lot which is why I practise a lot.”
Shirai Sora wants revenge at Paris 2024 - badly.
Shirai Sora: 'I know it has to be all about Paris for me'
Three years ago when skateboarding made its Olympic debut in Tokyo, Shirai was the top-ranked Japanese male even ahead of Horigome, who went on to win the gold medal and became the face of the sport for his country.
Shirai on the other hand, failed to qualify for the final, ending up ninth overall. Despite his talents, he has since been seen as second fiddle to Horigome.
Nearly five months away from the Games, he is again the top-ranked man from Japan at No. 2 worldwide, behind only the living American legend Nyjah Huston. Shirai is in good position to secure a spot at his second successive Olympics (Horigome is cutting it close on qualification; he needs to be one of the top three Japanese skaters and is currently fourth).
Should he qualify for Paris 2024, Shirai will not make the mistakes he made in Tokyo. He knows people will have doubts. He knows he will have doubts.
Which is why Paris is all the more important to Shirai, who wants it more than anyone.
“I was going all in on this competition so I’m just really glad it paid off,” Shirai said after becoming world champion. “I’d come close or get on the podium but never been a champ.
“Being a champ is like… I don’t even know how to put it. But I couldn’t win for a very long time and I couldn’t be happier to have gotten it done in the city I love Tokyo, in Japan.
“Everyone asks me if I can go to Paris. They don’t ask me how I think I’ll do there which says a lot. I know it has to be all about Paris for me. It’s incredibly important because it affects so much.
“Paris is everything. It’s not the be all and end all of skateboarding as we know it, but Paris is the only place I can get payback. Not anywhere else. And I understand that better than anyone. Paris is No. 1 for me.”