PARIS: Players born to Japanese mothers dominated the women’s park skateboarding podium at the Paris Olympics, just as they did at the previous Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Australian skateboarder Arisa Trew won the gold medal in the event on Tuesday. The 14-year-old topped the scoreboard on her last run, pulling off many difficult tricks to edge out silver medalist Kokona Hiraki of Japan and bronze winner Sky Brown, who was born in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Miyazaki and represented Britain.

Arisa’s mother, Aiko, said that the gold medalist’s Japanese name includes the kanji character meaning “love,” as does her own. The mother said she chose the kanji character because she hoped Arisa would be “loved by everyone and able to think about many things.”

Arisa’s father, Simon, a native of Australia, was a surfer before taking up skateboarding because the ocean was cold in winter. Aiko said that Arisa followed in her father’s footsteps just to enjoy the sport and make friends, but ended up appearing in competitions.

Even now, Arisa feels like she is playing with friends when practicing skateboarding, according to her mother.

At a press conference alongside her fellow podium finishers, Arisa was asked her favorite Japanese word, and she replied that it is “kawaii,” meaning cute, adding that it is easy to say.

JIJI Press