Will Japan Skateboarder Funa Nakayama Turn Her Tokyo Bronze Into Paris Gold?

At the Paris Olympics 2024, Japan's 19-year-old Funa Nakayama will look to turn into gold the bronze medal she earned at the Tokyo Olympics. For Nakayama, breaking new ground and records isn't new. With Asian skateboarders shining at the Summer Olympics and Asian Games, Nakayama will give her all this season too. Born and raised in Toyama Prefecture, the young skateboarder did years of training in skateboarding right from the age of nine. Her story is inspiring in more ways than one.

Nakayama is 'one of a kind' in Japan

Nakayama was placed 6th at the '2021 Street Skateboarding World Championships' that was held in Rome in June 2021. Following this accomplishment, she was selected to represent Japan in the Olympics. At the Tokyo Olympic Games, she finished in 1st place in the preliminary round and then the player went on to win the bronze medal. Furthermore, she also won her first international competition in July 2022 at 'World Street Skateboarding Rome 2022'.

The unassuming teen was propelled to become the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of the leading American skateboarding magazine Thrasher, in January 2023 and concurrently she is one of the top skaters who is garnering attention for her unparalleled excellence around the world. 

Nakayama first became interested in the sport when the Nixs Sports Academy which is the biggest skate park in Toyama, east Japan opened in 2014. She was nine years old at the time and lived nearby with her family, so her father took her. Now looking back, the medallist says all this had certainly helped her during her career enhancement in the skateboarding culture in Japan when some of these skateboarding venues were built by the government and a few credible organisations ultimately giving a stamp of legitimacy to the sport and gradually removing the stigma of skateboarders being seen as delinquents.

However, Nakayama continues to work on perfecting her signature tricks which include backside boardsliding on rails as well as noseslides, at which she also excelled at the Tokyo Olympics while practising new tricks which she claims no one has ever done before.