Skateboard comes from the heart. Most of the women skaters agreed upon that. Before they throw themselves into competition in the women’s Skateboarding Park Final, in Aspire Park on 14 October.
It was an evening full of flips, runs and challenging tricks. Also an evening of falls. None of the women who participated seem to bother. They get up and try again. And again.
Sakura Yosozumi won the gold medal. With ease. She is current No 3 in the World Skateboard Park ranking. And she acted as the big favourite. She got the biggest score from the beginning and won her reward, a big applause from the crowd and the top spot in the final. Seventeen years old Yosozumi rocked the crowd from the beginning. She tried a lot of different and difficult tricks and she was successful in most of them.
Yosozumi became an instant hit in Aspire Park. Not only among fans, but also among her colleagues.
Her biggest rival was also Japanese, Kihana Ogawa.
“I was so nervous,” she said. So true. She fell on her first try, after a few seconds. But she did not give up.
“People were cheering for me. So I tried to give them something back. I tried really hard for that,” she quoted.
She had the last chance, but it was impossible to overcome Yozozumi dominance.
“Skateboard is all about having fun,” said 15-year-old bronze medalist Julia Benedetti. As she finished her third and last try, members of the Spanish team were cheering for her. When she joined them, the real party began. Big cheers and few high fives after her brilliant performance.
Skateboarding is dominated not only by Japanese, but mostly from teenagers. Benedetti is one of them, but she has to compete in women’s tournaments.
“Everybody is young in skateboarding, so this is not strange to me. I am use to it,” she said.
