BMX and skateboarding – game changers?

Challenging perceptions and appealing to a new audience.

Getty Images: Ezra Shaw

I’ve been trying to decode my initial reaction after watching three teenage girls pick up all three medals of the inaugural street skateboarding event in Tokyo. The youngest was 12, which meant at the last Olympics in Rio she was 7 – they’d only notched up another year due to the pandemic postponing the games. That’s incredible.

I was a little bit skeptical about the Tokyo Olympics, given the Covid pandemic at first. They lifted us, gave us hope and celebrated human achievement in the strangest of times. Arigato.

The new Olympic disciplines are intended to be more accessible and appeal to a younger TV audience and also attract new talent from a broader pool than the  traditional Olympic sports. Were they a success? Yes, absolutely.

My first reaction though, was bemusement at the age of the medal winners, as I wondered if it was all a bit of a farce. But then a thought kept bugging me:

Why were these competitors so young? Where were all the 20 year+ women skaters? That’s exactly the point, just how many girls and young women do you see in your local skate park, or hanging out doing tricks on BMX bikes? None, I bet.

We’ve still got a long, long way to go to change perceptions of what women can do, should be, and must look like. So what great role models these Olympic Champions are; they’re fearless, having fun and clearly all good friends together. How refreshing on so many levels.

It’s not the IOC that will champion change, though it’s great to see them backing new sports. Rather, it’s the character and nerve of these young women that will help to change perceptions and inspire others. It’s attitude and talent that matters, not their age. Of course, that’s not enough, it’s also about having equal access to an opportunity in the first place.

To build trust, change perceptions and appeal to a new generation we need tangible actions, such as improved funding for women in new Olympic sports. Perhaps now future gold medal female athletes, like Bethany Shriever, won’t have to resort to crowd funding to be able to compete. How bonkers was that?

Given the successes of Team GB female athletes in skateboarding, and their triumphs in BMX, I hope there is now change within UK Sport, to seize this moment. The tenacity and talent of gold medal winners Beth and Charlotte Worthington in BMX will surely inspire many young women to want to try new kinds of sports. Let’s give our women athletes the full support they deserve, that truly would be game-changing.