Skateboarding: Powerhouse Japan welcomes new Olympic age limit

Kyodo News

2 days ago

KYODO NEWS - 11 minutes ago - 13:52 | Sports, All
Despite the potential impact on its medal prospects, skateboarding powerhouse Japan has welcomed the new Olympic age limit restricting competition to athletes 14 and older from the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Governing body World Skate decided in April to institute the limit, which would have ruled some of Japan's previous Olympic medal-winning skateboarders ineligible.
Japan's street skateboarding head coach Daisuke Hayakawa has nevertheless endorsed the new restriction against the backdrop of increasingly severe injuries, including ligament ruptures, being reported among growing children in many countries as the technical difficulty of tricks continues to rise.
"I think it's a good decision. We can't overlook the risk of children attempting them while lacking the basis (for skills) or being physically immature," he said.
Among Japan's record seven Olympic skateboarding medalists since the sport debuted at the 2021 Tokyo Games, Momiji Nishiya won women's street gold in Tokyo at 13 and Cocona Hiraki took park silver at 12, while Coco Yoshizawa was 14 when she triumphed in women's street in Paris last summer.
Hayakawa believes the average age of the Japan national team would naturally not go any lower, as the stars who emerged at the Tokyo Games reach their peak years. He added that children's lighter bodyweights are not necessarily an advantage for aerial maneuvers that also require sufficient leg power.
While World Skate also mandated a minimum age of 12 for other international tournaments, Japanese organizers kept recent domestic competitions in Kanagawa and Mie prefectures open to future stars aged between 7 and 10.
With youngsters often drawn more to the culture of skateboarding than to competition, parents and children at the events did not seem too concerned by the latest developments.
"My dream is to skate in a cool way. The Olympics isn't really a target," a 10-year-old at one of the events said.
World Skate Japan has decided not to set an age limit for domestic tournaments amid the latest news, its board member Hitoshi Murakami said.
"There might be changes in the growing process of children aiming for the Olympics from Los Angeles onward," he said. "We'll think about how we can support children of those ages."
The International Olympic Committee started tightening age restrictions to protect child athletes after Russian figure skating prodigy Kamila Valieva tested positive for a banned substance at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.
"I believe this change (in skateboarding) is also related to the IOC's policy," said Murakami, who expects little opposition in Japan to the new limit.
Related coverage:
Snowboarding: 6-time Olympian Tomoka Takeuchi to retire after 1 more season
Golf: Chisato Iwai wins 1st U.S. tour title in Mexico