Olympics: Meet Momiji Nishiya, Japan's youngest gold medalist
What's the story
Japan's Momiji Nishiya became one of the youngest individual champions in the history of the Olympics on Monday. Momiji achieved the feat when she won the inaugural women's skateboarding gold at the age of 13 years and 330 days. Meanwhile, Brazil's Rayssa Leal (13 years and 203 days) won silver and Funa Nakayama (16 years) of Japan clinched bronze. Here is all about Nishiya.
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Momiji scripted history with a score of 15.26
Momiji entered the record books with a score of 15.26. Her final three runs (4.15, 4.66, and 3.43) made her secure the top spot on the podium. Meanwhile, Rayssa Leal, Brazil's youngest-ever medalist, won silver with a score of 14.64.
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Here are the other achievements of Momiji
Momiji was born on August 30, 2007. She won a silver medal at the Summer X Games in the street women's event in 2019. At the World Skateboarding Championships 2021, she won the silver medal (scored 14.17 points). "I am simply very, very delighted. I am so happy," Nishiya said after her win and added her success has "nothing to do with her age."
History
Yuto Horigome won first-ever skateboarding gold medal at Olympics
Momiji won the historic Olympic gold after his fellow team-mate Yuto Horigome clinched the men's title. Horigome won the first-ever skateboarding gold medal at Olympics. The 22-year-old Japanese scored 37.18 points in men's final. Horigome had been among the medal hopefuls after he beat Nyjah Huston of the US at the world championships in Rome in June.
Facts
A look at the interesting facts
US diver Marjorie Gestring remains the youngest individual Olympic champion after winning the 3m springboard in the Berlin 1936 Games. She had accomplished the milestone at 13 years and 268 days. Skateboarding is one of the four sports making debut in Tokyo, along with surfing, sport climbing and karate. The organizers aimed at bringing younger audiences to Olympics.