Tokyo: Thirteen-year-old Japanese sensation Momiji Nishiya went into history books as she became the first Olympic gold medalist in women’s skateboarding on Monday. Aged just 13 years and 330 days, Nishiya is one of the youngest Olympic champions in history.
Brazilian Rayssa Leal, who is 13 years and 203 old took silver while the bronze went to 16-year-old local Funa Nakayama. The average age of the women’s street skateboarding podium was 14 years and 191 days making it the youngest individual podium in the history of the Olympics.
26 July – #Skateboarding– Women's Street
🥇NISHIYA Momiji 🇯🇵
🥈Rayssa Leal 🇧🇷
🥉NAKAYAMA Funa 🇯🇵#UnitedByEmotion | #StrongerTogether | #Olympics— #Tokyo2020 (@Tokyo2020) July 26, 2021
Nishiya thus joins male compatriot Yuto Horigome who took gold in the same event a day ago. Reigning world champion Leal was the undisputed favourite before the start but couldn’t repeat her show when it mattered most and won silver with 14.64 points while Nishiya’s teammate Nakayama bagged the third place with 14.49 points.
The youngest ever champion at the Olympics is United States diver Marjorie Gestring who won the 3m springboard event at the 1936 Berlin Games aged just 13 years and 268 days.
