Tokyo Olympics: The sky is the limit for 13-year old bronze medal winner in skateboarding

Great Britain's Sky Brown flies high at her first Olympics.

She's a bundle of optimism and energy and she just won a bronze medal in skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics. The little girl with the cool name, Sky Brown, is only 13-years old and she's already a star.

The Tokyo Games is where skateboarding was first included as a sport.

Although representing Great Britain, where her father is from Sky was born in her mother's home country of Japan. Despite her dual citizenship, she qualifies to be called a Japanese American since she  lives most of the year in California's Oceanside, with easy access to surfing and skateparks, two of her favorite activities.

“I want to inspire girls and boys because I feel at the Olympics everyone is watching me,” she told the Evening Standard . “I want to be the little girl going the highest, and some girls thinking if she can do it I can do it too.”

Having just turned 13, she’s Britain’s youngest-ever Olympic athlete, she nearly died from an accident a year ago, and she already has a million Instagram followers, a published book, her own Barbie doll and a huge Nike sponsorship deal.

Sky is one of the athletes who benefited from the coronvirus-spurred year's delay of the Olympics. In June 2020, when Olympic teams would be picked for the summer's Games, she had an accident and nearly died, according to her parents.

In June 2020, Sky fell 15ft from a ramp in training, fracturing her skull, breaking her left arm and wrist and suffering lacerations to her heart and lungs. “Sky had the gnarliest fall she’s ever had and is lucky to be alive,” her father Stu said at the time. “Sky remains positive and strong. The whole medical team is shocked to see her positivity.”

On social media while recovering, Sky posted, rather jauntily, “it’s OK to fall sometimes.”

After winning skateboarding's bronze medal, Sky Brown wants to party with friends.

When she lives in Japan, she pals around with the Japanese skateboarders, some as young as she. She has invited them over to her home for a "sleepover," something little girls like to do.

On the medal's podium, the skateboarding whiz shared the podium with Japan's gold medalist Sakura Yosozumi, 19 and silver medalist Kokona Hiraki, who turns 13 later this month. Sky refers to the pair as "two of my favorite people."

"Skateboarding is one big family," she says. "We push each other and we have fun together, and I think skateboarding is just a friendly sport."

The future looks bright for the teenager. In Paris, she wants to compete in skateboarding and surfing.