Other than attending the track cycling for a couple of days at the ill-fated Tokyo 2020 Olympics I really can’t remember too much else about those games apart from what happened in one sport, and perhaps surprisingly that was one that made its debut at those games which were held a year later than planned due to the global pandemic.

As the title of this post reveals, that sport is of course skateboarding. Why I ended up watching so much Olympic skateboarding I don’t know! It may stem from my own background as a skateboarder in the late 80s and early 90s or maybe it was just because Japanese TV just happened to be showing it a fair bit at a time of day that was convenient for me!

When I booked the tickets last month I did wonder if this World Street Championship at Ariake Coliseum would be held on the main court or elsewhere in the complex. It proved to be the former but there was certainly no trace of the blue tennis court, the net or the  umpire’s chair as it was completely covered in the various ramps, handrails and other such obstacles which the skaters use.

All is quite at this particular Coliseum!

The aforementioned Ariake Coliseum is just a short walk from Ariake-tennis-no-mori station in Koto-ku and across the road from Tokyo Garden Theater where my wife and I saw Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in concert a fortnight earlier. The Coliseum itself was a place I watched tennis itself back in September at the Toray Pan Pacific Open and of course I had to point out to my friend the exact spot where I met British tennis player Harriet Dart. In contrast, there were very few people around this time and it would have been very easy to think that nothing was taking place on this particular day.

Just embarassing! An older guy trying to pose in a cool way!

The reason Japanese TV showed so much skateboarding was probably because Japan were the strongest nation overall at this sport. I can recall seeing the likes of Yuto Horigome (he won gold in the men’s street), Funa Nakayama (bronze in the women’s street), Sakura Yosozumi (gold in the women’s park) and Momiji Nishiya who was memorable for a few reasons; she won the women’s street gold, was only 13 then and had the same name as our beloved family dog who went to heaven in 2019.

The women’s (girls is probably more apt given how young many of them are!) quarter finals were up first and we took our seats just a short time before the four heats began.

The competitors had two runs of 45 seconds each to perform their various tricks, grinds, slides and aerial turns with the best 16 qualifying for the following days semi-final where it would then be whittled down to just eight people before Sunday’s final.

My main interest were the three respective medal winners from Tokyo 2020; Momiji Nishiya, Rayssa Leal (Brazil) and Funa Nakayama. Along with a few other people of note from Australia and Japan it was actually easier than expected to notice the difference in class between some of the skateboarders as they worked their magic.

A fair few competitors were around us in the stands before or after their runs but we just weren’t too familiar with them, and didn’t want to just ask for an autograph or selfie with someone in the hope that they’re notable! I did recognise one of the Japanese girls called Liz Akama and wanted to at least be able to say congratulations or hard luck etc before asking for a photo. However, I wasn’t even sure if she had qualified for the semi finals or not so decided to not disturb her. Also, maybe I’m overthinking it but it does seem a bit weird to ask for a selfie with a girl who I’m three times the age of! Instead, I just took one of myself!

This should’ve been a selfie with one of the competitors!

Unaware of the schedule beforehand, I was hoping that the men’s competition would follow soon after but sadly there was a near-two hour wait for that to start.

There were the 45 minute practice sessions so at least I got to see all of them in some kind of action before I had to depart just after 4:00 pm due to family commitments.

My partner in crime for this event was Mostyn who is older than me but also got into the sport at the last Olympics. We were both very conscious of being much older than the average person in attendance ahead of the event but it turned out that there were quite a few other older people there. Despite feeling a little out of place we both enjoyed it and even agreed to attend again when (if?) this event returns to Tokyo.

What a pair of wallies! 

As it was, Mostyn was back at the event just two days later for the finals day which saw a double gold for Japan as Yumeka Oda and Sora Shirai took home the gold medals in the women’s and men’s competition.

Click here to read ‘Getting Ready For The Paris 2024 Olympic Games At This Qualifying Event In Tokyo (+ Ice Hockey In Yokohama)’

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Click here to read ‘What It’s Like To Be A Spectator At The Tokyo 2020 Olympics’

Click here to read ‘Reignite Your Passion For The Olympics At This Tokyo Museum’