Team GB’s skating supergirl Sky Brown, 13, snatches bronze in Tokyo to earn millions more

thirteen year old skateboarding sensation sky brown Having become Britain’s youngest Olympic medalist in history is already worth an estimated £3.5m ($5m) and could be offered up to £2m in new support in 2021.

The teenager showed exceptional skill to finish third for more than a year after fracturing his skull in a training accident that could have killed him, breaking into tears of joy at the end of the final, where he was given two The Japanese were beaten by stars, including 12-year-old rival Kokona Hiraki.

The birth of the sky Happened in Japan But lives in San Diego with her British father, Stuart, a skateboarder and marketing executive originally from Cornwall, and Japanese mother Miko, a homemaker. As well as being the youngest female professional skateboarder in the world, she is also the youngest athlete in the world sponsored by Nike to appear in commercials. Serena Williams And Simone Biles.

But while Team GB pays no prize money for a medal, the British winners are given new access to a goldmine of sponsorship, advertising as well as TV commercials and shows and other cash-rich deals in their wildest form. Will be enriched beyond dreams. Worth £2 million per Olympic medal.

Skye could have represented the UK or Japan, but she chose her father’s country of birth in 2018 and said: ‘British Skateboarding Association, they told me ‘no pressure, just have fun and get out there’. That’s why I chose England’.

After a breakfast of kimchi and fermented soy beans, she attends a school in Orange County two days a week and does the rest of her studies online, allowing her to spend six hours each day surfing and skateboarding and traveling to nearby events. is allowed to do. Globe. She also spends some time of the year in Japan, where she was born in 2008, but the family has had to build a skateboard ramp in the family garden.

The teenager is already said to be worth $5 million, with several commercials with other big brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Vans, Hurley and Billabong. But after today’s success, his stock is expected to rise further as big businesses are now desperate to sign up the sports prodigy.

Sky already has 1 million followers on Instagram and the YouTube channel she shares with her brother Ocean, Nine, who is also a professional skateboarder, has garnered 20 million views. But her father said that today she will take some time off social media channels, which she is deemed to be managing for her talented daughter and her younger brother.

She has such a high profile in the US, Sky even won the US TV talent show ‘Dancing with the Stars: Juniors’ in 2018 and her love for surfing is such, she may choose to attend that event in Paris 2024.

Her father said today: ‘Till then it will be up to her. She’ll be 16, and it’s tough enough now. But she goes straight to school and does what families do. We will remove him from social media for a while.

Skye lives in California and her favorite training spots are Prince Park in Oceanside or Poods in nearby Encinitas, both close to her San Diego home. She also spends a few years in Japan, where she was born in 2008, but the family had to build a skateboard ramp in the garden.

Today’s amazing bronze came just 14 months after a scary training accident in California, where he blew his skateboard off the top of a high ramp and landed on hard ground, fractured his skull and broke his hand and wrist. She was taken to the hospital in an unconscious state, but miraculously recovered. His father said at the time: ‘The most terrible fall ever occurred in the sky and she is lucky to be alive. When she came to the hospital for the first time, everyone was scared for her life.

Today Skye became Britain’s youngest Olympic medalist in history – less than a month after her 13th birthday – as she won the Tokyo 2020 bronze medal after a perfect run after two big falls in the final.

Speaking later, Sky said: ‘It was a Super Sick final. All the girls were ripping it off, it was crazy. I am very shocked. I can’t believe it, it’s unbelievable. The medal seems unreal, it’s like a dream. I can’t wait to show the medal to my family and friends.

Today she entered the history books at the age of 13 years and 28 days, becoming the youngest Briton to compete for the country at the Olympics and then taking home a bronze medal after falling in her first two routines.

She was overwhelmed with relief, completing her routine for the third time, to leapfrog from Japan’s Misugu Okamoto to bronze medal position. Virtually the entire field of contestants surrounded Brown and hugged him in tears. When she got out of the mess it was clear she was happy.

She surpassed Margaery Hinton’s summer British record, who was 13 years and 43 days old when she competed in swimming at the 1928 Games. British figure skater Cecilia Collage was 15 years old when she won a figure skating silver in 1936.

The sky appears after the race: ‘Sakura’ [Yosozumi, gold medallist] Said, ‘You have this sky, I know you’re going to make it’, and it really made me feel better.

‘I was a little nervous but I’m happy to be here and to be honest, I just wanted to make my move. I didn’t really care which place I got, I just wanted to get down on my move.

‘I really hope I inspire some girls. I feel like people think I’m too young and I can’t do it, but if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. I believed in myself and here I am.

It’s been a year since Brown, then 11, broke his skull and fractured bones in his arm after an accident during a practice session.

Father and coach Stu were watching there at Ariake Urban Sports Park, where Skye shared achievements with the rest of his family before taking his place on the podium.

Sky said: ‘H said it’s just a contest, it doesn’t define you if you fall. Honestly, it made me feel better. It’s just a competition and that’s it.

‘I honestly feel that the accident made me stronger. That accident was bad. It was a tough time for my parents and a tough time for a lot of people and it’s really nice to come back and get bronze. I am very happy. It has made me really strong.

‘I talked to my mother and my brother and my mother was crying.

‘I’m so excited to see my brother’ [Ocean}. He really gets me pumped up when I’m in a contest he goes ‘go Sky’, he screams and I really wish he was here.’

Brown competed at the US Open in 2016 at the age of eight, and first elected to compete for Great Britain in 2018. 

An earthquake registering 6.0 on the Richter Scale shuddered Tokyo on Wednesday morning, but it was nothing compared to the tremors felt at the Ariake Urban Park where Sky Brown and her 12-year-old rival Kokona Hiraki proceeded to rip up the Olympic record books.

Aged just 13 years and 28 days, Brown won bronze in the women’s park competition, after a dramatic podium-or-bust final run of the competition in which she landed a move called the kick-flip indy that had been eluding her all day, and proved enough to make her Great Britain’s youngest Olympic medallist.

Incredibly, she was beaten by the even-younger Hiraki, who thus became the youngest Olympic medallist in 85 years, while her team-mate Sakura Yosozuma, who had qualified for the final in fourth place, nailed back-to-back 540s in the opening run of the final, for a score of 60.09 that proved enough for gold.

On the hottest day yet of the baking Tokyo Games, with temperatures tipping 33 celsius amid stifling 90% per cent humidity, Brown exhibited maturity beyond her years, recovering from falls in each of her first two runs of the final to come good when it mattered, a score of 56.47 lifting her into a podium place.

Ranked third with one competitor, the favourite Misugu Okamoto, to go, Brown still faced the prospect of leaving the Games without a medal. But when Okamoto, the reigning world champion and leading qualifier, failed to go clean on her final run, the Briton’s ascent into the Olympic history books was confirmed.

Brown’s dad Stu, who was born in Britain and whose parents live in the New Forest, admitted he may be powerless to prevent his daughter’s bid to medal in another Olympic Sport.

‘It’ll be up to her by then,’ he said. ‘She’ll be 16, and it’s hard enough now. But she’s straight back to school and do the things that families do. We’ll take her off social media for a little while.’

At that stage, her medal seemed in grave jeopardy. Still to go on her last routine was Okamoto – the world No 1, who beat her to the world title in Sao Paulo. 

But Okamoto fell and was devastated as she lay on the track. Her opponents shouldered her from the track. Brown, the subject of intense attention across the globe before this competition, had taken bronze.

After Okamoto nailed the heats, it seemed like she was the big danger. But Sakura Yosozumi was the one who staked a huge claim, with her first score of 60.09 – which was always going to take some beating.

Brown immediately realised what the Japanese had achieved and ran to embrace her even before the score flashed up. The two are clearly close and spent some of the final together watching others compete. It is a different kind of competitiveness in this sport.

Twice, Brown fell as she attempted to match Yosozumi, But each time she could not complete the course. Her first run still managed to put her into third place but she was out of the medals a she went down for the third and last time

She succeeded, despite the blistering heat here. It is the hottest day of the Tokyo Olympics with temperature at the Ariake Urban Sports Park of 33 celcius, with a 90 per cent humidity.

Her routine included her signature ‘frontside 540’ which entails one and a half spins. Her ability to repeatedly lean while she span – ‘corking it out’ as it is known in the sport – also put her well ahead of the field. 

Brown is also the youngest Olympic medallist of any nationality since Inge Sorensen of Denmark, who was 12 years 24 days when she won bronze in the 200m breaststroke in 1936.

Brown’s achievement is all the more remarkable for the fractured skull and broken bones she suffered during an horrific fall in training last year.

‘That accident was pretty bad,’ Brown admitted. ‘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.’ 

In 2019, Brown finished third at the World Skateboarding Championship, and the following year she effectively secured her Olympic qualification by picking up a bronze medal at the Park World Championships in Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

Last month, she had warmed up for the Games by winning gold in the prestigious X Games, although neither of her key Olympic challengers, Okamoto and Hiraki, were present.

Hiraki was first up of the major contenders in qualifying, with her best score over three runs, 52.46, comfortably surpassed by Brown. But Okamoto, the 15-year-old defending world champion, laid down her mark with a leading 58.51.

Ultimately it was Yosozumi who emerged to take gold, with Brown expressing her delight at bronze, and her eagerness to go home to see her younger brother Ocean, and head for the surf, presumably to hone her skills ahead of a potentially audacious bid to qualify for a second sport in Paris in three years’ time.

‘I really hope so, I’m really going to try surfing,’ she added. ‘I’m going to go surf a lot after here. I’m excited to see my brother again, and I’m going to go and party with my friends.’