Sky Brown made history on Wednesday as she became the youngest ever medalist for Great Britain in the Summer Games after winning bronze in the inaugural women's park run in skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 13-year-old looked out of the medal race but came storming back with her final run to move into third place with a score of 56.47. She finished behind Japan's Sakura Yosozumi, who brought home the gold medal for the host nation with a score of 60.09 points, and 12-year-old home star Kokona Hiraki, who finished second with 59.04 points.
A clean sweep of the podium places was in the cards for Japan, but pre-tournament favorite Misugu Okamoto fell on her final run, handing the bronze to Brown, which was also Great Britain's first medal in skateboarding.
Brown finishes strong after a poor start
Brown arrived in Tokyo as one of the main medal hopefuls for Team GB in the Olympics. However, the pressure seemed too much at the start for Brown, who failed to properly execute her kickflip indy tricks in the first two runs.
Yosozumi, the eventual gold medalist, gave words of encouragement to Brown after her two falls, telling the British star, "You've got it Sky. I know you're going to make it." That provided a major boost for Brown, who finally pulled off a flawless run when it mattered most.
She displayed her signature frontside 540, a trick that loops the skateboard into 1.5 rotations, as well as other leaning spins to take home the bronze. Once she finished her perfect run, Brown was mobbed by the entire field as she broke down in tears.
It has been an incredible journey for the 13-year-old who thought she would not participate in the Tokyo Olympics at one stage. Brown suffered skull fractures and a broken wrist and hand in June of last year after disaster struck in one of her practice runs. Brown, who was 11 at that time, plunged 15 feet into the gap between two half-pipes and landed on her head.
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Brown's tough road to the Olympics
She was rushed to the hospital by helicopter after the horror fall, with Brown reportedly unresponsive on arrival. However, the British skateboarder made a miraculous recovery, telling her fans days after the incident that "It's OK to fall sometimes. I'm just going to get back up and push even harder."
Fortunately for Sky, the Olympics was postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, giving her another opportunity to represent Team GB in the Summer Games. Brown needed to convince her mother first, though, to allow her to compete once again as she was traumatized by Sky's horror crash in 2020.
She soon gave her blessing to Sky, and the rest, as they say, is history with Brown now an Olympic medalist at the young age of 13.
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