Skateboarder Sky Brown becomes Britain's youngest ever Olympic medallist

Sky Brown has become Great Britain’s youngest ever Olympic medallist.

The 13-year-old skateboarder won bronze in the women’s park event on Wednesday (04.08.21) to take the honour from swimmer Sarah Hardcasle, who was 15 years and 113 days when she captured silver and bronze in 1984.

She’s quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying: “I’m so stoked. I can’t believe it. It’s unbelievable. It’s like a dream.”

Sky is 13 years and 28 days old, while Kokona Hikari – who won the silver medal for Japan – is six weeks younger than her.

Meanwhile, the gold was won by Hikari’s 19-year-old teammate – and Brown’s best friend – Sakura Yosozumi.

She added: “It’s insane to be here, Sakura is one of my best friends and Kokona is a good friend too, so being on the podium together is so fun.”

Sky’s remarkable achievement in Tokyo comes after she suffered a bad accident last year while attempting a trick and was left with skull fractures, a broken arm and lacerated lungs.

However, she was determined to carry on skateboarding even with her parents trying to dissuade her.

She said: “That accident was pretty bad… but I kind of knew I was always going to come here.

“But it was a hard time for my parents, and a hard time for a lot of people and coming back and getting the bronze is really cool.

“I’m really happy. It’s really made me stronger.”

This year marks the first time skateboarding has been part of the Olympics, and Sky earned her spot on the podium by scoring 56.47.

Her medal means the British overall tally this time round has reached 47, while 14 of those are gold with Team GB now fifth in the rankings.