A trio of teens had no problem grooving onto the Olympic podium with a soundtrack from another century playing in the background, as Generation Z swept the Paris Olympic women’s street skateboarding medals to the songs of Generation X.
Japanese 14-year-old Coco Yoshizawa won gold, while her 15-year-old compatriot Liz Akama took silver and 16-year-old Brazilian Rayssa Leal finished third.
But it was clear that Gen X had control of the playlist, with songs from the 1980s and 1990s that included Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream,” Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop” and the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).”
“Music is very important even if it is sort of music before my time,” said Yoshizawa, via an interpreter.
Leal was among the competitors who opted to wear headphones during her runs but had no problem with the booming music at La Concorde, where a sellout crowd piled in to watch.
“I was listening to Brazilian music,” she said. “But of course I enjoy very much listening to music from the ’80s.”
However, not all the competitors were cool with someone else controlling the playlist.
Fifth place finisher Poe Pinson of the United States said she pumped Bktherula, Chief Keef and viral sensation Charli XCX into her headphones to help keep her focus where it needed to be.
“I get distracted so easily, so if there’s like a crazy song playing, I’m gonna be like ‘Oh my god what is this song playing?'” said Pinson, whose headphones flew off when she fell from her board during the competition.
“I can skate without them but I’d just rather, like, vibe.”