Tokyo Olympics: at 13, Momiji Nishiya becomes the first Olympic skateboarding champion
Japanese Momiji Nishiya at the Tokyo Olympics.
AFP - LIONEL BONAVENTURE
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The 13-year-old Japanese Momiji Nishiya becomes the first Olympic champion in the history of skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics.
Skateboarding made its very first appearance at the Tokyo Olympics and Momiji Nishiya was still surprised by his victory.
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With our correspondent in Tokyo
,
Frédéric Charles
The
Japan
is the country with the largest number of centenarians in the world.
But he still has breath: he manages to give the world
an Olympic skateboard champion
barely out of childhood.
At 13, she won the street event ahead of Brazilian Rayssa Leal, also 13, and Japanese Funa Nakayama, 16.
Originally from Osaka, Momiji Nishiya is talkative, smiling and fair.
She says she is happy that a
Brazilian skater of the same age
won the silver medal.
It was her brother, she adds, who gave her the desire to practice this sliding sport.
"
I was nervous at first, but not after
"
Momiji Nishiya had already demonstrated, at the age of eleven, all his potential at the
X Games
, a legendary extreme sports competition in Minneapolis.
She had won a silver medal there.
In 2019, at the Worlds in Rome, she will collect another silver medal.
“
I was nervous at first, but more afterwards,
” says Momiji Nishiya.
In the street category, the skater must perform tricks, very technical figures on modules reminiscent of urban infrastructures such as ramps.
In his book
Tokyo-Skate: the urban landscapes of Tokyo
, the anthropologist Julien Glauser writes that Japanese skateboarders “
compose the urban landscape of Tokyo, spreading their prowess there in highly codified visuals
”.
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