Skateboarder Heili Sirviö is making history for Finland at the Paris Olympics this year as the youngest athlete to ever represent the country.
At 13 years old, Heili punched her ticket for the Olympics after placing seventh in a qualifying event for the Women's Park event in Budapest earlier this year. The Olympic competition will be held on 6 August in Paris's Place de la Concorde.
The Finnish Olympic Committee told Yle earlier this month that Sirviö's selection was discussed extensively before the decision was made. Typically, the Committee does not allow athletes so young, but an exception was made in Heili's case.
This was based on the fact that the Finnish skater has spent the last two years touring international competitions with other skaters going to Paris. Therefore, the Olympic competition is nothing new for Heili, just another step in competing internationally.
In competitive skateboarding, it is not unheard of for athletes to be quite young compared to other sports. While boxing and gymnastics have age limits of 16 years at the Olympics, there is no such restriction in skateboarding.
Young people have also been quite successful at the sport in the Olympics. Momiji Nishiya won a gold medal for Japan in the Women's Street discipline at 13 years old at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the first time the games included the event.
While the sport skews youth-heavy, there are a few outliers this year such as 50-year-old skateboarding veteran Andy Macdonald representing the United Kingdom in the men's division.
At the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, Lizzie Armanto represented Finland in the Women's Park event, placing 14th.
Australia to California to Paris
As part of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) rules, she will be accompanied by her father Fredu Sirviö, a former professional snowboarder.
"It's been a long journey, and we're really excited to get there. It's our first Olympics but hopefully not the last. We are going there with great enthusiasm and positive excitement," said Fredu.
The whole Sirviö family is aware that the 13-year-old Olympic athlete will receive special attention.
"I think Heili herself enjoys the spotlight very much, and that's enough for me," Fredu said.
The Sirviö family moved to Australia around seven years ago and both Heili and her sister Miila Sirviö have Australian citizenship as well as Finnish. Skateboarding initially began for the duo when they took their father's skateboard out of the closet during Covid lockdown in 2020.
"I liked to learn new things and develop my skills," now 13-year-old Heili told Yle.
Two years ago, the Sirviö family relocated to Vista, California, near San Diego, to help the girls become world class skateboarders.
"I realised that this could really be something, as Heili's tricks got quite close to elite standard after only a couple of years of skateboarding," her father Fredu said.
Both Heili and Miila are prolific skateboarders, placing first and second, respectively, in the Finnish Vert Skateboarding Championships earlier this month.
Eyes on the prize
Heili is clear when it comes to her goals for Paris.
"I want to bring home a gold medal," she told Yle with a broad smile.
Heili's coach Jussi Korhonen is more moderate, but he also said his goal is a podium finish.
With good luck, he told Yle that is realistic, as Heili has already managed to break through at the elite level. Her support team also plays a big part in his success, and he described Sirviö as ambitious and systematic in working towards her dreams. As she gets older and more experienced, her originality grows.
Korhonen noted that this kind of originality is important to skateboarders, as they want to leave their legacy by creating new tricks and approaches to the sport.
"Of course, Heili hasn't had time to do half of that in four or five years, but she certainly wants to leave her mark on skateboarding history.," Korhonen said.
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