Japanese skateboarder Momiji Nishiya became one of the
world’s youngest individual Olympic champions in history when she won gold at
the women’s street skateboarding event at the Tokyo Olympics. Momiji Nishiya is
13 years and 330 days old as of Monday.  

She finished ahead of Rayssa Leal, who is 13 years and
203 days old and came in second and 16-year-old Funa Nakayama who came in
third.  

Momiji’s performance mirrored that of her Japanese
teammate Yuto Horigome who won the men’s title on Sunday.

On the Olympic podium following the even, three
teenage girls aged 13, 13 and 16 wore their heavy gold, silver and bronze
models around their necks.

“I am happy that a skater from the same country as me got
a medal,” Nishiya said. “I get nervous and lonely if there is no one from my
country or no one to speak to. I was not nervous when I am with a competitor
like Funa who is from my country and can talk with me. She is a friend of mine
and also rival,” the Guardian quoted Nishiya as saying.

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Skateboarding is one of the four sports making their
debut in the Tokyo Olympics. The others are: sport climbing, surfing and
karate. The new sports are being introduced as an attempt to attract younger
audiences to the Olympics.

US diver Marjori Gestring remains the youngest
individual Olympic champion after winning the 3m springboard at the 1936 Berlin
Games at 13 years and 268 days.

The youngest athlete at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 was
12-year-old Hend Zeze from Syria. She bowed out in the preliminary round of the
table tennis event on Saturday.