Paris ¨C Coco Yoshizawa is a lot more famous than she was a few days ago.
The 14-year-old newly christened Olympic gold medalist only needs to look at her rapidly growing follower count on Instagram if she needs proof.
¡°I¡¯m a bit embarrassed to say that I have around 38,000 followers now, but before I came, I had around 3,000,¡± Yoshizawa said a day after winning the women¡¯s skateboarding street competition at the Paris Olympics.
About six hours after she said that the count had grown to 45,700 and is surely going to continue rising.
That follower count came with more mentions and messages after she edged teammate Liz Akama and Brazilian bronze medalist Rayssa Leal to win the second-ever Olympic title in the event.
¡°I received congratulations from people I knew, but people I didn¡¯t know also sent me messages,¡± she said. ¡°I felt like people supported me, even if I did not know them.¡±
Yoshizawa said it took a while for her triumph to sink in.
She was in first place after the preliminary round of the competition but tumbled out of the medal places in the final round. Akama, meanwhile, surged into first place with a strong final run and first trick.
Yoshizawa retook the lead on the fourth of her five best trick attempts. She landed a bigspin kickflip frontslide boardslide that wowed the crowd and the judges. She scored 96.49 points ¡ª the highest for a trick in the final round ¡ª to surge past Akama into first place.
Akama missed her final trick and settled for silver.
¡°I still feel disappointed that I did not win the gold medal,¡± the Sendai native said. ¡°I feel like I was not strong enough to win it at the end, so I need to practice more. For now, I¡¯m happy to take the silver medal to my hometown.¡±
Both skaters were competing in the Olympics for the first time. They did well not to let the loud and raucous atmosphere in the stands rattle their nerves.
¡°I was a bit nervous at my first Olympics,¡± Yoshizawa said. ¡°I felt more pressure than in other competitions because there were so many fans. I took it as a positive that they were cheering for me. I was able to skate the way I wanted. I think it was a really good environment.¡±
Akama also left with positive feelings despite her disappointment at missing out on gold.
¡°The Olympics is my dream and my goal,¡± she said. ¡°I was really nervous at the beginning, but the crowd was really excited and I had a lot of fun.¡±
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