From streets to stadiums: Sky Brown, the youngest Olympic Medallist

Sky Brown (16) is one of the most talented skateboarders at this years Olympics. After her bronze medal in Tokyo, Sky is hungry for more. We’ll show you her journey to the Paris Olympics!

‍

_{Multi-talented}

Sky Brown is half-British half-Japanese! Born in Miyazaki, her original name is Sukai Buraun (スカイ). Her dad Stuart is British, making here eligible to represent the UK on the Olympics. But he moved to the US before she was born. Sky spends half the year in Japan and the other half in the United States for school. She knows how to keep herself busy. If she’s not skateboarding, you can find her surfing, following guitar lessons or doing some jiu jitsu. Especially surfing is one of her big talents. Her original plan was to compete in both skateboarding and surfing at the Paris Olympics. She failed to qualify at the World Surfing Games in Puerto Rico. Despite not hitting her goal, everybody is super proud. And she’ll definitely try again for the 2028 Olympics ;). Her skateboarding career is the most successful yet. Sky started out with some YouTube tutorials and never had a coach. You can find her practicing in Huntington Beach LA. Sometimes she is joined by 3-time gold snowboarding medallist Shaun White who lives just around the corner.

Fun fact: Did you know that know that Sky won Dancing with The Stars; Juniors in 2018?

_Prizes

At just 9-years old, Sky participated in the Vans US Open. The youngest ever to do so! One year later, she became a professional skateboarder, again the youngest ever to do so ;). After her professional debut the prizes started coming. Sky won bronze and gold on the World Championships, two gold medals on the X Games, and silver and gold on the Dew Tour. But her best achievement was at the Tokyo Olympics. It was the year skateboarding debuted on the Olympics. Sky immediately took home bronze. At 13 years old, this made her the youngest UK Olympic medallist ever.

‍

_{A big inspiration}

Her skateboarding achievements inspire girls all over the globe. She became an instant role model. With partnerships from Nike, shoe and skate collaborations, Sky created her own brand. People come up to her wearing her helmet or using her skateboard. It pushes her to be the best version of herself everyday. Her message is clear: don’t care what people think. Everybody just has one life and you can’t let anybody stop you from what you want to do. It is her dream to inspire girls. Not even just in skateboarding, but whatever they want to do. This “Sky Brown-effect” is huge in the UK. In the last 5 years, skateboarding in London grew with 800%! A major part of this is girls hitting the streets after Sky’s Olympic performance.

_{No pressure}

Even with all eyes on her, Sky feels no pressure. Skateboarding is all about fun for her. She never sees it as practicing, it is her happy-place. Skating is her “playground”, and this year La Concorde in Paris will be hers. See her in action on August 6!