#M. duran olympic games tokyo 2020 pro#
#M. duran olympic games tokyo 2020 series#

skateboarding national team, ranked 15th in the world among female park skaters.Īside from sporting a flow even a hockey player would envy, Reynolds’ signature look is skating shirtless, a daunting prospect when you consider the rough cement of a park just begging for falls. One of Reynolds’ closest friends growing up on Oahu, Jordyn Barratt, is also a member of the U.S. Growing up on the North Shore of Oahu, Reynolds attended the Punahou School, joining a list of notable alumni that includes Barack Obama.

Indeed, at one point during Reynolds’ AMA, his father popped up with a heartfelt message for his son, who has been busy traveling the world to skate in contests: “I just wanted to say keep inspiring son and following your dreams. “My father is my coach and one of the biggest supporters in my life when it comes to my path of being an Olympic athlete.” “I am very close with my family,” Reynolds said. When Reynolds isn’t skating, he’s usually surfing or helping out at his family’s skate shop. Reynolds’ dad introduced him to skateboarding at a young age and has served as his longtime coach. “I would always hope and dream for it and it’s crazy to think that all the dreams are coming true!” “Honestly I would have never that it would actually make it into the Olympics,” Reynolds said when a user asked him if he ever thought skateboarding would be an Olympic sport. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) Getty Images

#M. duran olympic games tokyo 2020 pro#

at the Vans Pro Park on Augin Huntington Beach, California.

#M. duran olympic games tokyo 2020 series#

Her delighted mom didn't take much convincing.HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA - AUGUST 03: Heimana Reynolds practices for the Vans Park Series Men's Prelims. She said she aims to be at the Paris Games 'and win.'īut first - barbecue. 'I'm not surprised if there's probably already like 500 girls getting a board today.' 'This is like opening at least one door to, you know, many skaters who are having the conversations with their parents, who want to start skating. 'It's going to change the whole game,' U.S. Skaters predicted that by time the next Olympics roll around, in Paris in 2024, the women's field will have a greater depth of talent and tricks, built on the foundations they laid in Tokyo. 'And I won, because I was the only one,' the 30-year-old Guglia said. The first contest she entered, at the age of 13, had no women's category, so organizers had to create one for her. I want to be like her,'' Bufoni said.Īnnie Guglia of Canada said she didn't see any other girls skate during her first two years on her board. 'So I want be that girl that the little girls can show their parents and be like, 'She can skate. 'He thought girls shouldn't skate because he had never seen a woman skate before.'īufoni added, half-joking, that getting him to relent had been harder than qualifying for the Tokyo Games. The field included Leticia Bufoni of Brazil, whose board was snapped in two by her dad when she was a kid to try to stop her from skating. 'Skateboarding is for everyone,' she said.īut that hasn't always been true for young girls, even among the 20 female pioneers who rode the rails, ramps and ledges at the Ariake Urban Sports Park. She first caught the skateboarding world's attention as a 7-year-old with a video on Instagram of her attempting, and landing, a jump with a flip down three stairs while wearing a dress with angel wings. 'Now I can convince all my friends to skateboard everywhere with me,' Leal said.

The bronze went to 16-year-old Funa Nakayama of Japan. The silver went to Rayssa Leal, also 13 - Brazil's second silver in skateboarding after Kelvin Hoefler finished in second place on Sunday in the men's event.īoth Nishiya and Leal became their countries' youngest-ever medalists. She said she'd celebrate by asking her mother to treat her to a dinner of Japanese yakiniku barbecue. It's anyone's guess how many young girls tuned in to watch Momiji Nishiya of Japan win the debut Olympic skateboarding event for women, giving the host nation a sweep of golds in the street event after Yuto Horigome won the men's event.īut around the world, girls trying to convince their parents that they, too, should be allowed to skate can now point to the 13-year-old from Osaka as an Olympic-sized example of skateboarding's possibilities.Ī champion of few words - 'Simply delighted,' is how she described herself - Nishiya let her board do the talking, riding it down rails taller than she is. On the Olympic podium stood three teenage girls - 13, 13 and 16 - with weighty gold, silver and bronze medals around their young necks, rewards for having landed tricks on their skateboards that most kids their age only get to see on Instagram.Īfter decades in the shadows of men's skateboarding, the future for the sport's daring, trailblazing women suddenly looked brighter than ever at the Tokyo Games on Monday.