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Teenagers Win All 3 Medals In Women's Street Skateboarding Event

Momiji Nishiya of Team Japan celebrates during the Women's Street Final on day three of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Monday at Ariake Urban Sports Park.
Patrick Smith
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Momiji Nishiya of Team Japan celebrates during the Women's Street Final on day three of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Monday at Ariake Urban Sports Park.

Updated July 26, 2021 at 8:48 AM ET

TOKYO — Thirteen-year-old Momiji Nishiya dazzled during the Olympic women's skateboarding street competition. She skated through a park of rails, ramps and stairs meant to mimic city street parks at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.

When she finished, she became Japan's youngest-ever gold medal winner and one of the youngest Olympic champions of all time. Nishiya shared the podium with two other teenagers.

It "could very well be the youngest Olympic podium ever," the official Olympics news outlet says.

Nishiya's win also sealed Japan's domination of the street competition. It debuted at these Summer Olympics and organizers hope it infuses the global sports event with youthful energy. In fact, half of the women in the eight-skateboarder final were 16 or younger.

Brazil's Rayssa Leal, a few months younger than Nishiya, took silver. Another Japanese skateboarder Funa Nakayama, 16, won bronze. Nishiya's victory came the day after Japan's Yuto Horigome, 22, took the gold in the men's street competition.

The sport is one of several new games at the Olympics this year including surfing, three on three basketball and rock climbing.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Leila Fadel is a national correspondent for NPR based in Los Angeles, covering issues of culture, diversity, and race.

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The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

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Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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