If you ever want to feel like you’re living inside a real-life version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater video game series, get tickets to a skateboard competition. While gymnastics might have double pikes, layouts and half turns, here, as in the video games, it’s all about boneless disasters, judo transfers and feeble grinds. Even the soundtrack to which the skaters compete is reminiscent of the classic game.
And Japanese skateboarders were clearly enjoying themselves on Wednesday as the sport’s park event made its Olympic debut at Tokyo’s Ariake Urban Sports Park.
Japan’s Sakura Yosozumi, 19, won gold in the women’s park competition with a best score of 60.09, edging out silver medalist Kokona Hiraki, 12, on 59.04. Yosozumi laid down her best score in her first of three runs and it proved to be enough to put her on top of the podium despite crashes in her second and third runs.