POP to the TOP

With Asian skateboarders acing the Tokyo Summer Olympics and Asian Games, Tatler looks at the growing prominence of skateboarding in the region, and the rise of Asian women in the male-dominated sport

- Zabrina Lo

With her straight black hair pulled neatly into a low ponytail, a shy smile and a plain T-shirt hanging off her petite frame, Funa Nakayama came across as any other quiet teenager as she politely waited her turn at the skateboarding rink in Hong Kong's Hysan Place. Nakayama, along with a few other Japanese skateboarders, visited the city in November last year for Lee Gardens' Skateboard Fest.

Once she mounted her skateboard, however, it was like she flipped a switch. Leaning her body forward, she propelled herself down the slope and flew off a platform with a dexterous command of her board and an air of self-assurance. Then, she popped her board and slid smoothly on a ledge before ending her ride with a powerful flip trick. But this was only a warm-up. The unassuming 18-year-old is an Olympic medallist who won bronze at the inaugural women's street skateboarding category in the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021. The achievement also led her to becoming the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of leading American skateboarding magazine Thrasher, in January 2023.

The athlete says: "2020 and 2021 were the 'golden era of my career." Not that that signals a plan to end her career: this year, Nakayama will be training hard for the Paris Olympics in July. But first, to qualify as a member of the Japanese team, she will need to stand out at rounds of national selections.

Competition is keen among Japanese female skateboarders. At the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, Momiji Nishiya, who was 13 years old at the time, won gold in the women's street competition; and Wakayama native Sakura Yosozumi, who won gold at the Asian Games in 2018, took the park category. Then there's Oda Yumeka from Nagoya, who set the highest score record in international tournament Street League Skateboarding.