‘Of course we all want gold’

WWhat did you do when you were 13? Want to make friendship bracelets? Playing with Lego? Want to mess around on your bike? Chances are you probably didn’t stand on an Olympic podium and take home a bronze medal. But that’s exactly what Sky Brown, skateboarding prodigy and new Tag Heuer ambassador, did at the Tokyo 2020 Games (technically 2021).

“I was supposed to do two safer runs, but decided to go for it at the last minute,” Brown recalls. She has just finished showing off her best tricks next to the Thames on a huge halfpipe between two double-decker buses, organized for her by Tag Heuer. When you see her in action, it’s easy to forget that she’s only 15 years old. There is an ease and confidence about it which twists and turns them in the air. As she shows off the Japan Air – in which the skater’s board is pulled behind the back with the knees pointing downward – she is balletic, an aerial dancer with helmet and pads. Then she fails to make a move, slides through the halfpipe and her small size makes you realize that, despite all her experience and awards, she is still only a teenager. Although it is a very impressive one.

Brown skateboarding on a ship moored next to Tower Bridge in London

Born in Miyazaki, Japan, to a British father and a Japanese mother, Brown never knew life without a skateboard: “It was my favorite toy. My dad skateboarded, so I grew up with it.” Her father even built a skate ramp in their backyard due to the lack of skate parks in Takanabe, where they lived at the time.

Despite her talent – ​​a video of her on a board when she was four went viral – her parents didn’t pressure her. “It was me who wanted to participate,” she says. “They only let me in when they saw how much I enjoyed it. And I still enjoy it.”

Brown is not exaggerating; she always shines. That infectious smile was even present in a video she posted to Instagram in 2020, when she fell from the top of a halfpipe at the age of 11 while training for the Tokyo Games. She suffered life-threatening injuries, including skull fractures and a broken wrist. None of that stopped her and a year later she became Britain’s youngest Olympic medalist. And now she hopes to do even better in Paris. “I have definitely grown a lot since Tokyo,” she says. “I have more power.”

Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph, £1,900, tagheuer.com

Like many skateboarders, Brown doesn’t have a coach. She learns tricks from videos and by skating with fellow Olympic skateboarders. “Of course we all want gold, but we also want the best for each other,” she explains.

It’s good to see young women succeeding in a historically male sport. “When I was growing up and going to skate parks, there was a bit of, ‘What are you doing here?’ confirms Brown. There comes that smile again. ‘I don’t care what they think. I just want to prove them wrong.”

As with everything, Brown is moving to be welcomed into the prestigious Tag Heuer family of sports ambassadors, which features a fair number of Olympians, including American 100, 200 and 400 meter sprinter Fred Kerley and Canadian 400 meter medley swimmer and world record holder. Summer McIntosh.

“Watches are an important part of my lifestyle,” says Brown, who wears an Aquaracer Professional 200 Solargraph. “I can easily get carried away when skating or surfing (she failed to get a spot in the Team GB surfing squad after coming third in a qualifying event but has her sights set on Los Angeles in 2028 ). I need all the help I can get to keep track of time,” she adds with a grin. “And they’re super cool too.” And with that she left: a 15-year-old champion with the world already at her wheels.