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Jonathan White

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, or the Games of the XXXII Olympiad to give it its full title, looms large on this year’s sporting horizon.
It is sure to provide the high drama and new pinnacles of sporting excellence as the Games gone before.
A total of 27 world records and 91 Olympic records fell in Rio four years ago, 38 world records went in London in 2012 and 43 in Beijing in 2008.
More records are sure to follow in Tokyo, especially with the new sports added for 2020.




Three of those new sports are surfing, sport climbing and skateboarding, with athletes expected to go faster, higher and stronger this summer.
Here are some of the potential breakout stars, including some of the youngest competitors at the Games.


Sky Brown (Great Britain): skateboarding
Brown, who was born in Japan to a British father and Japanese mother, has opted to compete for Britain and she is expected to make the team. The skateboard sensation will be just 12 years and 12 days old when the Games open on July 24, but she is seen as a medal hope after winning bronze at the worlds. Brown became Nike’s youngest athlete at 10 and she first competed on the Vans Tour at just eight years old. She also won the junior version of Dancing With The Stars in the US.

 
Misugu Okamoto (Japan): skateboarding
A year older than Brown, the pair could have been teammates for Japan in Tokyo but the strength of the hosts in the sport is perhaps the reason they will compete for different countries. Okamoto is arguably Japan’s best. She won the Sao Paulo skate park world championships that Brown took bronze in, among a run of wins in 2019. Okamoto was the top-ranked female park skater in the world in 2019.


Kokona Hiraki (Japan): skateboardingThe youngest member of Japan’s all-conquering skate team is the recently turned 11-year-old Hiraki, who was ranked No 7 in the world in 2019. Her greatest achievements included first place at the Vans Park Series Pro Tour France and several second place rides in a breakout year for an athlete who may be the youngest at the Games.


Carissa Moore (USA): surfing
The Hawaiian is the four-time world champion and earned her spot on the two-woman roster for Tokyo by finishing top of the world rankings again in 2019. The 27-year-old is surfing royalty and has used her public platform to speak out on the environment, eating disorders and sexism. She goes into surfing’s debut Olympics as the favourite and gold will go some way to making her the most famous person to have attended Punahou High – the same high school as former US president Barack Obama.


Nyjah Huston (USA): skateboarding
The highest paid skater in the world, Huston has been the champion of the Street Skateboarding League in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017 and 2019. He also has 12 Summer X Games gold medals to his name and is widely expected to add to that with the first Olympic gold in the sport. The 25-year-old is top of skating website The Boardr’s overall rankings, which puts him No 1 in the world across all ages, genders and disciplines. Away from competition he has made some of the most well-regarded skating videos in history.


Janja Garnbret (Slovenia): sport climbing
Arguably the best climber on the planet, Garnbret is favourite for gold when sport climbing makes its debut in the summer. The 20-year-old has won back-to-back IFSC Climbing World Championship titles in bouldering and combined climbing. In 2019 she also became the first athlete to win all the Bouldering World Cup events in a season.


Adam Ondra (Czech Republic): sport climbing
Described as the leading climber of his generation, the 26-year old has a host of climbing accolades and the medals to match, famously being the only climber to have completed Silence, the world’s hardest route. While he is no longer the world No 1 – that honour goes to Japan’s Tomoa Narasaki, who will go into the Tokyo Games as favourite for gold after winning the combined and bouldering titles at the IFSC Climbing World Championships – Ondra has the talent and pedigree to spoil the party for home fans.


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Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tokyo 2020: Sky Brown and Nyjah Huston among medal hopes in new Olympic sports

British skateboarder Sky Brown arrives for the BBC 2019 Sports Personality of the Year Award. Photo: PA

Tokyo 2020: Hong Kong stars Sarah Lee, Siobhan Haughey and Vivian Kong share their hopes

Hong Kong’s Shek Wai-hung in action in the men’s vault final at the 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. Photo: Reuters

(L-R) Jasmine Alkhaldi from Philippines (1st runner up); Siobhan Bernadette Haughey from Hong Kong (Winner); and Camille Cheng (2nd runner up) on Women 50m Freestyle, at the Hong Kong Swimming Open championships, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. 10AUG19 SCMP / Edward Wong

Newly elected HKFA chairman Pui Kwan-kay meets the media. 04JUL19

Cycling - 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships - Pruszkow, Poland - March 1, 2019 Hong Kong's Lee Wai Sze celebrates winning the women's sprint gold medal race REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

In this picture taken on March 9, 2018, women's snooker world champion Ng On-yee of Hong Kong chalks the tip of her cue during an interview with AFP at a snooker club in Hong Kong. Snooker world champion Ng On-yee has already made history -- In February 2018 she became the first Asian to top the women's world rankings. Now the Hong Kong pioneer, who embarks on her world title defence in Malta this week, wants to change the image of the male-dominated game and enable more women follow in her footsteps. / AFP PHOTO / Anthony WALLACE / TO GO WITH AFP STORY HONG KONG-HKG-SNOOKER-NG,INTERVIEW BY YAN ZHAO

Artistic Gymnastics - 2019 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships - Men's Vault Final - Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, Stuttgart, Germany - October 13, 2019 Hong Kong's Shek Wai Hung in action REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay

Chan Kong-wah, Hong Kong table tennis team head coach, is seen at Hong Kong Sports Institute in Sha Tin. 11APR18 SCMP / Chan Kin-wa

Cyclist Leung Hung-tak celebrates after crossing the finishing line at the Marlboro Super Series cycling competition at Victoria Park.

Interview with high jumper Cecilia Yeung Man-wai at the Hong Kong Sports Institute in Fo Tan. 19JUN17 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

Fencer Vivian Kong Man-wai proudly presents her first World Cup gold medal she won in Havana, Cuba. Pictured at the Hong Kong International Airport. 16JAN19 SCMP/Chan Kin-wa

Top-seeded Tony Choi Yuk-kwan (right) of Hong Kong defeated Victorio Gomez of the Philippines in the semi-final of the Hong Kong Junior Open Squash Championships at the Jubilee Sports Centre.

Hong Kong team goalkeeper Yapp Hung-fai reviews his EAFF E-1 Championship career

Tokyo 2020 hopes Sarah Lee, Siobhan Haughey and Oscar Coggins led Hong Kong sport in 2019

Sarah Lee was Hong Kong’s top athlete of 2019. Will she strike gold in Tokyo in 2020? Photo: UCI

Christy Yiu kit-Ching wins the women's half marathon at Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon, in Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. 17FEB19 SCMP / Nora Tam

Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey competes in the semi-final of the women's 200m freestyle event during the swimming competition at the 2019 World Championships at Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center in Gwangju, South Korea, on July 23, 2019. (Photo by François-Xavier MARIT / AFP)

Hong Kong triathlete Oscar Coggins photographed at South China Athletic Association in Happy Valley. 02JUL19 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Vivian Kong competes in Cali, Colombia for the World Cup series

Muay Thai boxer Nana Tsang Hoi-lan photographed in Wan Chai. 31OCT19 SCMP / Xiaomei Chen

Hong Kong cyclist Sarah Lee Wai-sze, winner of Hong Kong Sports Stars Awards and Best of the Best HK Sports Stars Awards held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. 26MAR19 SCMP / K. Y. Cheng

In this picture taken on March 9, 2018, women's snooker world champion Ng On-yee of Hong Kong takes a shot for a training exercise during an interview with AFP at a snooker club in Hong Kong. Snooker world champion Ng On-yee has already made history -- In February 2018 she became the first Asian to top the women's world rankings. Now the Hong Kong pioneer, who embarks on her world title defence in Malta this week, wants to change the image of the male-dominated game and enable more women follow in her footsteps. / AFP PHOTO / Anthony WALLACE / TO GO WITH AFP STORY HONG KONG-HKG-SNOOKER-NG,INTERVIEW BY YAN ZHAO

(From left to right) Cheung Siu-lun, Yeung Chi-ka, coach Greg Koenig, Edgar Cheung Ka-long and Ryan Choi Chun-yin of the Hong Kong Men's Foil team that won a historic silver medal at the St. Petersburg World Cup on Sunday.

Sport

Other Sport


Surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing are among the new sports for the Summer Olympics in Japan
Hosts have high hopes in skateboarding and climbing events, along with some of the youngest Olympians



Surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing are new sports for the Summer Olympics in Japan, with Sky Brown and Misugu Okamoto among the young medal hopes.


Climbing and mountaineering