CAPE TOWN – Boipelo Awuah is a 15-year-old South African skateboard sensation who has skated her way to the biggest stage in the land to become the youngest African at the Tokyo Olympics.
Awuah, who hails from Kimberley in the Northern Cape, started skateboarding at the age of 5.
The World Skateboarding Federation took to Twitter to congratulate her, adding that they gave Awuah her first skateboard at 4 years old.
In an interview with a South African women in sport website, the teenager said that when she saw her name on the screen when the South African Tokyo Olympics team was announced, it was such a unreal moment. She said that it finally sank in that all of it was real and that it was happening.
Awuah sealed her ticket to the Olympic Games as the only African skateboarder in the women’s street skateboarding competition.
“It was crazy, I went from skating national competitions to skating the world championships out of nowhere, you know, but it was an awesome experience,” Awuah said, according to the Olympics.com website.
Skateboarding will be making its debut at these Olympic Games and Awuah will be among the 80 athletes breaking new ground for the sport.
Speaking to Olympics.com, she said: “My mindset going into Tokyo will be I want to be able to perform at my best level.”
Awuah won both national championships to earn a qualifying place in Rome, where she qualified as the highest-ranked skateboarder from Africa in her discipline.
She told Olympics.com that female skateboarding in South Africa and the continent is still in its infancy and hopes her story will inspire an awakening.
IOL Sport