Japan’s 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa on Sunday grabbed gold in the all-teenage women’s street skateboard final at the Paris Olympics, after nailing a high-risk ride down the hand-rail. Yoshizawa went into her penultimate trick with two big scores, but needing a third to complete her total, before finishing in style.
“I knew that if I wanted to win, I had to go for the most difficult tricks. I didn’t aim for second or third place; I aimed for the top spot with my highest difficulty moves,” she said.
Even though all her rivals had one more run, she raised her board above her head in celebration after the move.
Photo: Reuters
“After making it I was not so much happy as relieved,” she said. “Completing the big spin flip felt fantastic, because I hadn’t managed it in practice, so to nail it here meant a lot.”
Fellow Japanese Liz Akama took silver, with Brazilian Rayssa Leal collecting bronze at the Place de La Concorde.
After the deluge that forced the postponement of the men’s event the previous day, skies cleared on Sunday and the temporary arena became a humid cauldron. The women’s street final opened with the evening sun shining off the golden point of the ancient obelisk of Luxor at the centre of the Place de La Concorde and glinting off the glass dome of the Grand Palais.
Yoshizawa, who forms part of a younger generation of Japanese skaters, racked up 272.75 points from her three best runs.
Akama, aged 15, collected 265.95 to place second and Leal finished on 253.37 — comfortably ahead of fourth-placed Cui Chenxi of China.
Leal was the oldest of the three medalists in the French capital at 16. Momiji Nishiya — who took the first-ever gold in the event in Tokyo aged 13 — this time failed to make the team.
“I could perform with the Eiffel Tower as a background, but I was focused on skateboarding and didn’t see anything until I was on the podium, and then I could take in the scenery and say: ‘Right, I’m in Paris.’” Yoshizawa said.
She said to celebrate her gold win she wanted to “have some ramen and visit Disneyland.”
Japan has won four of the six women’s street medals since the event was first introduced in Tokyo.
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