Teenage dream: 17-year-old Brighton Zeuner takes on Tokyo for park skateboarding Olympic debut

The world watched in awe as three teenagers — all 16 and under — filled the podium for the first ever women’s street skateboarding competition in the Olympics. Gold medalist Momiji Nishiya and silver medalist Rayssa Leal can’t drive yet, and it was a shock when they skated past other top competitors with more experience.

Brighton Zeuner wasn’t surprised.

At 17, Zeuner is a bit of an old bird in the Olympic field for women’s park skateboarding. She’s the No. 12 female skateboarder internationally in her discipline but her biggest competition in Tokyo makes her seem a little old. Top-ranked Misugu Okamoto is 15, Great Britain’s Sky Brown is 13 and Japan’s Kokona Hiraki is 12.

"Sometimes when I hang out with Sky and skate with her, I feel kind of old," Zeuner said. "Hanging out with her and skating with her is great, and she reminds me of how I was when I was little. But it’s weird thinking of myself as an oldie. I think I still have a few years."

She should have more than a few years if she follows Tony Hawk, who at 53 years old recently posted some effortless-looking runs in Ariake Urban Sports Park. While getting to Hawk’s level of success could be difficult, Zeuner has already made a name for herself in skateboarding.

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Zeuner was gold-getter from the get-go

When Brighton and her family moved to Encinitas, California, her parents built her and brother, Jackson, an '80s style vert ramp in their back yard. The extra practice time helped her become a successful skateboarder before her age hit double digits, and then she caught the competition bug.

Zeuner became the youngest female athlete to ever compete at the X Games at the age of 11. Then she became the first ever Vans Park Series World Champion. She followed that up by becoming the youngest gold-medalist of all-time in the X Games, one day after her 13th birthday.

She held that record for four years, until 12-year-old Gui Khury won gold this July. Zeuner is still the youngest back-to-back gold medalist in the X Games after winning again in 2018. She rounded out her résumé with an ESPY nomination for Best Female Action Sports Athlete.

How did Zeuner become one of the best skateboarders in the world?

"You just have to love it. Surround yourself with good people … the type of people that made me push myself and want to be a better skater. And also, just have fun. Do it for a good reason and know why you want to do it."

Tricky trek to Tokyo Olympics

For swimmers, gymnasts, track athletes, the Olympics are the pinnacle, the end goal of a lifetime’s worth of work.

That hasn't been the case for skateboarders. This is the inaugural year skateboarding has been Olympic event, and Zeuner didn’t grow up training to compete in the Games. She worked to perfect her style, picked up deals with Red Bull and Vans and then skateboarding was scheduled to debut in Tokyo weeks after her sixteenth birthday.

But as any skateboarder would know, things don’t always go according to plan. These Games are nothing like what Zeuner imagined, but then again, she never thought skateboarding would make the cut for Olympic events and the past year has been anything but ordinary.

Brighton tore the main ligament in her ankle during a qualifier in China and spent nearly four months rehabbing to get back into shape for the Olympics. Then the pandemic hit and pushed the Games back a year. She made the United States team alongside best friend and fellow teenager Bryce Wettstein but COVID threw another wrench in Zeuner's Olympic debut.

When she first drops in at Ariake Urban Sports Park, she’ll be alone. The stands will be relatively empty and there will be no coach waiting for her on the sidelines.

Even her dad, Brandon, who has never missed any of his daughter’s competitions, will be thousands of miles away, forced to watch her compete on television because of the coronavirus restrictions.

"I’m really upset that my dad isn’t going to be able to come," Zeuner said. "I’ve never skated a contest without my dad on deck supporting me. He’s sacrificed so much for me to have this happen and it’ll be weird not having him there. I get really nervous and don’t think I’m going to be able to perform well without him."

Sending her teenage daughter to the other side of the globe has been the most difficult part of this process for Bridget Zeuner, Brighton’s mom.

"She’ll go out, but she probably won’t perform like she does, with her not having her dad for the first time in her entire life," Bridget said. "I think she’s happy to be showing up and being a part of history, being part of that first group that’s worked so hard for this, who never took it for granted. As a parent, you send your kid off on school trips alone … I just wish it wasn’t the Olympics."

A Bright(on) future

Bridget remembers like it was yesterday how Brighton started skateboarding. Her daughter would tag along to the parks with her brother and dad, doing what little sisters do: climb trees, hunt ladybugs, play around in the dirt. She was already doing softball and dance, but when she started playing around with Jackson’s decks, those sports were left in the rearview.

But a professional career and an Olympic appearance was never something that Bridget imagined for her daughter.

"Being signed on a global level was amazing to see, like wow, you value what she does and brings to the table that you would pay her like a grown-up," Bridget said. "Then we heard about the Olympics and we were pretty astounded, and it was a trip to know that she could be in it. But this was just all accidental."

Brighton will make history when she drops in during the women’s park debut on Aug. 4 in Tokyo. She doesn’t think she’ll medal, but anything can happen in the Games. For Brighton, competing in the Games is about more than just winning or losing. It’s about showcasing the sport that gave her a space to be herself, and she wants other girls to experience the same thing.

"I think a lot of these young girls are really motivated and (the competition) are all teenagers now," Brighton said. "It’s going to inspire a lot of young girls to want to skate because they see that they can do that too."

She’ll return home after about a week in Tokyo. With the Olympics checked off a pretty lofty bucket list for a teenager, Brighton already has her sights set on the next goal.

"No, I have not had the time to get my (driver’s) license," she said. "I’m getting a Texas license but I’ve been in California skating as much as I can. After the Olympics that’s definitely mandatory.”

Contact Alyssa Hertel at ahertel@usatoday.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.