At the age of 11, she overcame a life-threatening skateboarding accident; at 12, she sustained a skull fracture; at 13, she claimed a bronze medal in Tokyo; at 15, she suffered a knee injury; and at 16, just over a week after dislocating her shoulder, Sky Brown once again took home bronze in park skateboarding at Paris.
Brown, along with 15-year-old Japanese skater Cocona Hiraki, made history as the youngest athletes to earn medals at two Olympics in the park event at La Concorde on Tuesday, narrowly missing the gold to 14-year-old Australian Arisa Trew.
While a bronze might have seemed disappointing for a skater who has continually added new skills to her already impressive arsenal, this was less about a missed opportunity and more about triumph against the odds. After a challenging six-month recovery from a serious knee injury, a week spent fighting to compete, and a morning filled with pain, Brown’s achievement felt hard-won.
“It was a little scary falling on my shoulders just before my last run and heading into the final,” Brown reflected after the competition. “I had to give it my all. I fought through it and did my best.”
By Tuesday afternoon, as the qualifying round concluded, it was uncertain whether Brown, who finished fourth and secured her place in the finals, could actually compete, let alone win a medal.
After a relaxed start in the park, she caused anxiety among her team by falling off her board twice in her next two runs. The first time, she shrugged it off, but the second fall was more alarming, landing her awkwardly on the shoulder she had dislocated just before the Games.
She lay on the park’s bowl momentarily in evident pain, before her father, Stuart, helped her to the edge of one of the slopes where she managed to climb back up.
Post-qualifying, she labeled the fall as “definitely scary.” When asked about her ability to compete in the finals, she said: “All I can do is push through. I’m going to fight for Team GB, for the girls, for my family, for my supporters.”
And fight she did. It was only after the competition concluded that her father revealed she had briefly dislocated her injured left shoulder during the fall. “I ran to her, and she said: ‘Daddy, it’s come out again,’” recounted Stu Brown. “I told her not to worry. When she got up, she mentioned: ‘Oh, I think it’s gone back in.’ Despite the pain, she didn’t want to show it too much, fearing she’d be withdrawn from the contest.”
After her teammate Lola Tambling’s failure to qualify for the finals (“They’ll be buzzing,” Brown said of the support from her home town of Saltash. “It’s gonna be wild when I return home.”), all hopes of a medal rested on Brown’s slim shoulders.
Brown showcased remarkable resilience despite her injury challenges. Photograph: Dave Shopland/Shutterstock
After an hour and a half of treatment from the Team GB physiotherapists, Brown re-emerged looking composed for her first final run. She scored 80.57, but unfortunately, she fell again after the timer went off.
