At just twelve years old, Thai skateboarder Vareeraya Sukasem has qualified for the Paris Olympics, where she will be among the youngest athletes competing.
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The teenager secured her ticket to Budapest at the last minute at the end of June, despite being eliminated in the semi-final which led to fears of the worst.
” Disappointed ” for a moment, Vareeraya ” shouted with joy “, when she learned the news of her Olympic selection. ” I was so happy ” she recalls.
Five years after setting foot on a board for the first time, the Thai has joined the elite of the world’s best female skaters, who will compete for the gold medal on the Place de la Concorde on July 28.
Skateboarding made its debut at the Tokyo 2021 Games, driven by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which wanted to rejuvenate its audience.
The rapid rise of the Bangkok girl has taken Thailand by surprise, which is not used to being represented at the highest level.
Difficult beginnings
The few Thai hopes for a medal in Paris are concentrated on Panipak Wongpattanakit, crowned in Tokyo in taekwondo (-49 kg), and Kunlavut Vitidsarn, badminton world champion.
The Olympic destiny of Vareeraya, the first Thai woman in history to qualify for the skateboarding event, was far from certain in a kingdom where urban sports suffer from a lack of infrastructure.
Passionate about figure skating, the young girl had to stop due to lack of financial means.
Encouraged by her mother, a former participant in “The Voice” in Thailand, and a skateboarding enthusiast, she began to frequent skateparks, but her beginnings were difficult, with injuries and a pandemic interrupting her learning.
” Vareeraya has skills that are worth following (…) She has one of the great qualities of athletes which is concentration ” says Apichat Rutnin, vice president of the Thai Extreme Sports Federation.
Her ” first idol ” is barely older than her: the British rider Sky Brown, bronze medalist in the “park” event at the Tokyo Olympics, at 13 years old.
Sky Brown also qualified for the Paris Games, but in the “park” category, a little different from the “street” where Vareeraya shines.
Top 10 goal
The “street”, an event which takes place in two parts, is a series of figures in a space reproducing street furniture (ramps, stairs, rails, benches, etc.), where the judges’ scores decide between the competitors.
” I try to stay calm and do my best to be better than others, I stay focused on myself ” explains Vareeraya.
For these first Games, the goal is not the medal: ” Vareeraya has more Olympics ahead of her, this time to be in the top 10 (out of 22 qualifiers) would be great “, says Apichat Rutnin.
Unperturbed, the young skateboarder does not let herself be distracted by what she might visit on the occasion of her first trip to France: “II don’t have time to think about such things. ” she says before adding with a smile: ” But I want to go see the Eiffel Tower “.
Outside of skateboarding, Vareeraya, who put her studies on hold to focus on sports, enjoys drawing and listening to music. Maybe one day I will return to school, after completing this mission. ” she concedes.