Aged 11 she survived a near fatal skateboarding crash; at 12 she fractured her skull; at 13 she won bronze at Tokyo; at 15 she tore her knee and at 16 – little more than a week after dislocating her shoulder – Sky Brown took bronze again in the park skateboarding at Paris.
A bronze could have been seen as a disappointment for a skater who has added skill upon skill to the already impressive repertoire that won the same medal in Tokyo three years ago. But after six months of fighting to recover from a serious knee injury, after a week when she battled to even take part in this competition, and after a morning that had left her struggling to hold back tears of pain, this felt less like a missed opportunity, than one seized. Sometimes it is the taking part that counts – at least if you end up on the podium.
Pushing Through the Pain
“It was a little scary falling on my shoulders going to my last run, and then going to the final,” said Brown after the competition. “I had to send it. But I did fight through it, and gave it my best.”
By mid-afternoon on Tuesday, at the close of the qualifying round, it was far from clear that Brown – despite securing her place in the final by finishing in fourth – would be able to come out for the final round of the competition, never mind get a medal.
After a relaxed opening turn around the park she induced panic in her team when she came off her board twice in the next two runs. The first time she got up with a shrug, but the second saw her fall from the board awkwardly onto the shoulder she had dislocated just days before the start of the Games.
She stayed on the floor of the bowl park for a moment and looked to be in pain, before her father Stuart rolled her to the edge of one of the park’s slopes and she climbed up the side.
After the qualifying round, she admitted the fall had been “definitely scary”. Asked if she would be able to compete in the final she said: “All I can do is push through, I think at this point, so I’m just gonna fight through it. For Team GB, for the girls, for my family, my supporters, you know, we’re gonna fight.”
And fight she did. It was only after the competition had ended that her father confirmed that she had fallen on her injured left shoulder, and felt it briefly pop out of its socket. “I ran down to her and she said: ‘Daddy, it’s come out again,” said Stu Brown. “I told her not to worry about it. And then as she got up, she said: ‘Oh, I think it’s gone back in again.’ She was in pain, but she didn’t want to show it too much because she was scared of being pulled [from the competition].”
After her teammate Lola Tambling did not qualify for the final (“They’re gonna be buzzing,” she said of the support she’d got from her home town of Saltash. “It’s gonna be mad when I go back home.”), all medal hopes were resting on Brown’s narrow shoulders.
After an hour and a half of being put back together by the Team GB physiotherapists Brown once again looked relaxed as she came out for her first run of the final. A strong first run scored 80.57, but saw Brown fall again after the timer had sounded.
Thankfully this time she got to her feet quickly, but while other competitors used the pause between runs to get into the bowl to practice, Brown remained out of sight. She came out for an audacious second run which saw her flipping her board – known as a kickflip indy – over the volcano generating gasps from the crowd and launching her into second place with 91.60. For her third she did it all again, just better sneaking her score forward to 92.31 and putting the silver medal into touching distance.
Then Hiraki, with the final run of the tournament, pulled off another astonishing performance to score 92.63. With just 0.32 of a point between them, it was Hiraki in silver and Brown in bronze – with both competitors within a point of the gold medal winner.
Brown's Undying Spirit
Speaking after taking bronze, her earlier pain replaced with her trademark 100 watt smile, Brown said the crowd had pushed her through. “I felt adrenaline and I was just hyped up but I wanted to bring out more,” said Brown, admitting that her father had advised her not to do more extreme tricks for her final run so as not risk further injury.
“I wanted to bring out another trick, another few tricks but Dad didn’t want me to,” she said. “I wanted to keep it a little safe and didn’t want to hurt it even more. I did the best I could do.”
Speaking before these Games the 16-year-old expressed her disappointment at not also qualifying for the surfing. She would next time, she promised: “I know I’ve got LA [2028] ahead so I’m going to aim for that and get two gold medals for GB.”
After a performance this tenacious – don’t put it past her.
A Remarkable Rise
Brown's late stage injuries bear an eerie similarity to her preparation for the Tokyo Games, which saw the then 13-year-old fight back from suffering a life-threatening injury in training to compete in Japan.
The athlete plummeted 15 feet from a halfpipe ramp during practice, and was left with severe injuries including skull fractures, a broken left arm, broken fingers, and lacerations to her heart and lungs.
As per her father Stewart's Instagram post after the accident, Brown was immediately taken to the ICU via helicopter 'drifting in and out of consciousness'.
'Her doctors and the trauma team say it's a miracle how well she is dealing with the pain and recovering incredibly fast,' Stewart wrote in a poignant caption on social media site.
'They said it's shocking and believe it's because of her grit, positivity and attitude.'
14 months later, Brown claimed the history-making medal after nailing the third of her three routines, having failed in her opening two runs.
Brown's turn in Tokyo saw her surpass the British record set by Margery Hinton, who was 13 years and 43 days old when she competed in Olympic swimming at the 1928 Games.
Her ferocious fightback through adversity saw her win 2021 Comeback of the Year at the Laureus World Sports Awards, and that same year named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.
Since her star-making turn in Tokyo, Brown has won every event she has entered, including retaining her 2022 X Games title and winning back-to-back Dew Tour events.
'Every injury I've had, I've come back stronger,' Brown said in May during a nailbiting recovery spell. 'So this is just my time to really think about what I want to do next. It really puts a fire in my heart, and yeah, it happens, it is part of life.'
On the heels of her meteoric rise, Brown - who was born in Japan but qualifies for Team GB through her British father - has attracted a huge following on social media, and the brand deals and sponsorships to match.
The teenager has a whopping 1.3million followers on Instagram and 2.3m on TikTok, where Brown has been sharing insider information on life in Paris - and the athlete's Olympic village - since her arrival in France.
A Nike athlete, Brown also holds lucrative deals with Samsung, TAG Heuer, GoPro, and Claire's, among other global brands.
As well as raising her profile through her ruthless competitive edge, she also won Dancing with the Stars: Juniors in the home country of the US, has previously released a music single, and written two books.
A Determination to Succeed
But ahead of competing on Tuesday, Brown struck a grounded note as she spoke to her followers ahead of the biggest day of her competitive year, stressing that she planned on giving it '1000%' despite not being at full fitness.
'Today is a big day, but it's been an amazing journey and it's so so special,' Brown shared on her Instagram four hours before the skateboarding park heats. 'Actually, just before flying out to I crashed hard and I dislocated my shoulder, thankfully and brought me to a hospital in Paris as soon as I landed and patched me up for the contest.
After this I will have to go and have surgery on my shoulder. So with this shoulder and my knee injury, unfortunately I am not 100%. As I wish I could've been for this contest.
'But, it's ok… I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm a skateboarder. and I WILL give it my 1000% today.
'This for my country, for my friends and for my family. This is for the people I love and for EVERY single little girl that is watching me!!
'This is for you guys. Be brave, have fun and do (it) cos you freakin LOVE IT!!!'
Ahead of Tuesday's event, Brown also promised to put on an 'amazing show' and improve her prowess.
'From now on we're just try to progress and I'm gonna try to go higher, make my skateboarding more and more beautiful,' Brown told Eurosport. 'It's going to be an amazing show. I'm really excited to show you guys what we've got.
'Skateboarding, it's a very special sport. You can do it anywhere. And when you do it, you know, you forget about everything. You just think about skateboarding and now and what you want to learn next. So I just want to share that to the world.'
As well as skateboarding, Brown had hoped to compete for Team GB in surfing events due to her aptitude in the sport.
The teenager had previously hoped to do the same in Tokyo, but was unable to do so at the delayed Games.
This year, Brown was the team's second reserve after she came third in her heat at the ISA World Surfing Games in March, but failed to make it to Tahiti in her second sport.
The skateboarder said after her competition: ‘This journey has been crazy with lots of downs but lots of ups... I am super stoked. I wasn’t even sure I was going to make it here.’
Ms Brown said getting back on the podium was ‘sick’ and added: 'I am a double Olympic medallist. It’s really cool and I’m very happy.’
