Tokyo 2020 - Ollies, bunny hops and bouldering - Sky Brown, Shauna Coxsey look to excel in new Olympic sports
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Published 23/07/2021 at 12:57 GMT
Skateboarding, sport climbing, karate and surfing will make their Olympic debuts at Tokyo 2020, while BMX has added freestyle and basketball introduces a 3x3 competition. 13-year-old British skateboarder Sky Brown will be chasing gold, while Shauna Coxsey is Team GB’s best hope in the climbing - before she retires from the sport.
Charlotte Worthington in BMX freestyle action
Image credit: Getty Images
The Olympic programme has been freshened up for Tokyo 2020 - with events which organisers hope will bring new audiences to the Games.
Skateboarding, sport climbing, surfing and karate will be making their Olympic debuts, while BMX cycling expands its range to freestyle, and basketball adds a 3x3 competition. We have been looking over what to expect.
Skateboarding
Street 25-26 July, Park 4-5 August
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British skateboarder Sky Brown and Japan's Misugu Okamoto
Image credit: Getty Images
Two events are being added to the programme - park and street. The park discipline is what many people in the UK may be more familiar with at your local skate park - though this is super sized, with skateboarders completing tricks in smooth bowls. The street event, which American star Nyjah Huston competes in, features curbs, benches and rails.
Team GB challengers:
Sky Brown leads the British challenge - despite being Team GB’s youngest ever summer Olympian at the age of just 13. She took bronze at both the 2019 World Championships and the X Games. 15-year-old Bombette Martin also competes in the same event. Both are based in the USA, but have British dads, while Brown may also feel at home as her mum is Japanese and she has attended school there.
Sport Climbing
3-6 August
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Shauna Coxsey will compete in sport climbing for Team GB
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To incorporate climbing in the Olympics, athletes will compete in all three disciplines - with the lowest combined score winning. In the speed event, climbers will race against each other on a 15m wall, while in the bouldering, they will scale a number of fixed routes on a 4.5m wall. Lead is also over 15m, and challenges competitors to climb as high as they can inside a set time.
Team GB challengers:
Shauna Coxsey is a bouldering specialist who is Britain’s first ever world champion in the format. Speed climbing is something she has had to get used to, and although she is a great medal hope, the 28-year-old has struggled with injury over the past year and has already announced that she will retire after the Games.
Surfing
25 July-1 August
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Japan's Hiroto Ohhara during free training for Tokyo 2020
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The surfing competition will take place at Shidashita Beach on the Pacific Ocean, with athletes progressing through a number of rounds before they can compete for a medal. In the initial rounds, four and five people will compete in the heats, while the main rounds will pit two against each other, with judges scoring them on set criteria.
Challengers:
No Team GB athletes qualified for the Games, but Brazil are the favourites to win the men’s event with multiple world champion Gabriel Medina leading the way. Team USA’s Carissa Moore is tipped for success in the women’s event, and there could be home success from Japanese surfers, too.
Karate
5-7 August
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Japan's Ryo Kiyuna could deliver the host nation karate gold
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Karate is the latest martial art to be added to the programme, and fittingly at its spiritual home in Japan. There are two types of competition - kumite (sparring) and kata (forms). The latter is scored by competitors performing a number of moves against a virtual opponent, while kumite is the more familiar discipline of two karateka facing each other and accumulating points.
Challengers:
There is no Team GB representation, and Japan dominates the sport along with Spain. Ryo Kiyuna is the home hero in the men’s competition, with Kiyou Shimizu goes in the women’s.
New disciplines
Cycling BMX freestyle
31 July-1 August
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Charlotte Worthington in BMX freestyle action
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Freestyle is the second BMX discipline to be added, after racing was brought in at Beijing 2008. Riders take part in two 60-second runs, with the second round starting with whoever has the lowest score at the end of the first. That means that athletes often save their best run for last.
Team GB challengers:
Charlotte Worthington had a previous career as a full-time chef before switching to BMX as part of the British Cycling programme. She is the European champion and a genuine medal contender, having finished third at the last two World Championships. Declan Brooks goes in the men’s competition and has an outside chance, having finished third at the Europeans in 2019.
3x3 Basketball
24 July-28 July
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The venue for the 3x3 basketball at Tokyo 2020
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Like to go down to the local park and play a bit of three on three basketball? It is now an Olympic discipline and has been fully recognised by the International Basketball Federation since 2007. The competition takes place on one half of a regular court, with each team shooting into a single hoop. Three players from each side are on at one time, and there is also a substitute. The first to 21 points, or with the highest score after 10 minutes, wins the game.
Challengers:
Team GB will not be taking part in this event, but it will be of little surprise that the USA are the reigning men’s champions, though Latvia, Serbia and the Netherlands are also potential medal winners.
But in the women’s competition, it is a little different - the USA were last world champions in 2014, and China won the event in 2019.
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