Personal information | |
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Nationality | South African |
Born | Cape Town, South Africa | 12 June 1985
Home town | Panorama, Cape Town, South Africa [1] |
Occupations |
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Spouse | Leon Bester |
Sport | |
Country | South Africa |
Sport | Skateboarding |
Position | Goofy-footed |
Rank | 44th (June 2021) [2] |
Event | Park |
Pro Tour(s) | Dew Tour Vans Park Series |
Achievements and titles | |
Regional finals |
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National finals |
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Melissa Williams (born 12 June 1985) is a South African skateboarder. [3]
She competed in the women's park event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and was the oldest woman participating in skateboarding at the Games. [3]
Williams was born and greww up in Panorama, a suburb of Cape Town, and it was there where she started skateboarding at age 12. [4] In her mid-twenties, she lived in London for three years and, as she described, "spent a lot of time skating all the incredible bowls, snake runs, and [skate]parks that England has to offer." [1]
A person of many interests and pursuits, Williams has worked as an interviewer and organizer for Blunt Magazine, played drums for the bands Black Lung and Bilderberg Motel, boxed competitively, been the marketing manager for the South African branch of RVCA, managed operations of several restaurants in Cape Town, and founded and operated a social media and marketing company. [5] [6] She is not a professional skateboarder but rather skates for fun, in addition to surfing regularly. [5] When asked if there is anything she still wants to achieve, considering all she has already accomplished, Williams responded, "…there is so much cool stuff to do in this life. I want to do it all." [1]
Nyjah Imani Huston is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS Super Crown World Championship in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2024, and has won 15 gold medals at the X Games since 2011. Huston won his first Olympic medal, a bronze, in the 2024 Olympic men's street event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
Letícia Bufoni e Silva is a Brazilian-American professional street skateboarder. She is a six-time X Games gold medalist.
Elizabeth Marika Armanto is an American-Finnish professional skateboarder. She is part of the Birdhouse skate Team and is also sponsored by Vans with whom she has her own pro-model shoe.
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Competitions in the sport of skateboarding, governed by World Skate, have been held at two editions of the Summer Olympic Games. First selected as one of the discretionary sports at the 2020 and 2024 games, skateboarding will be inducted as one of the mandatory sports at the 2028 games. Athletes compete in the disciplines of park and street skateboarding – each their own events. Japan has won both the most gold medals (5) and most medals overall (9).
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Alexis Sablone is a goofy-footed American professional skateboarder, who ranked 12th in the world as of July 2021. She has competed in every X Games competition since 2009, the World Skateboarding Championship, and skated on the Dew Tour. Sablone competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, placing 4th in the women's street final. In addition to being a professional skateboarder, Sablone has a master's degree in architecture from MIT. She currently resides in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
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Sky Brown is a British-Japanese professional skateboarder and surfer who competes for Great Britain. She was the youngest professional skateboarder in the world, and has also won the American TV programme Dancing with the Stars: Juniors. She represented Great Britain at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won a bronze medal in the park event, making her the country's youngest ever medallist. She repeated this feat by winning bronze for a second time in park at the 2024 Summer Olympics. In addition, she won the same event at the 2023 World Skateboarding Championship.
Dallas Oberholzer is a South African professional skateboarder.
Cocona Hiraki is a Japanese skateboarder. She won a silver medal in the women's park event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the youngest Japanese athlete on record to participate in the Summer Olympic Games. She won a silver medal again in the women's park event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Dora Varella is a Brazilian professional skateboarder. She has competed in women's park events at several World Skateboarding Championships, finishing 15th in 2018 and sixth in 2019.
Sabre Elle Norris is an Australian surfer, skater, and YouTuber from Newcastle. She is the eldest child of Olympic swimmer Justin Norris and Brooke Norris.
Skateboarding competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics were held from 28 July to 7 August at Place de la Concorde, returning to the program for the second time since the sport's official debut three years earlier in Tokyo 2020. With the showcase of youthful talents and the level of competition continually rising, Paris 2024 will witness more skateboarders compete across four medal events as the roster size gradually expands from 80 in Tokyo to 88.