Tokyo Olympics 2020: Skate star Charlotte Heath’s hopes of being youngest Australian dashed

The postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics has far-reaching ramifications in the world of sport – but for one 12-year-old skate star, it’s robbed them of a chance to enter the history books.

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Skateboarding prodigy Charlotte Heath’s hopes of becoming Australia’s youngest ever Olympian were dashed due to the 12-month Tokyo Olympics delay – but the bubbly youngster is managing to see the silver lining.

With a confidence and skillset far beyond her 12 years, the Mornington Peninsula talent was firming for a spot at the Tokyo Games, where skateboarding will feature for the first time.

Those hopes were dashed in March when it was confirmed the 2020 Games would roll forward to 2021 as a result of the devastating coronavirus pandemic crippling the planet.

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Young skateboarder Charlotte Heath has had her ambitions to become Australia's youngest ever Olympian dashed. Picture: Jason Edwards

But the youngster is comfortable with losing her slice of history, safe in the knowledge that with another 12 months on her side she’s an even greater chance of stunning her rivals in Tokyo.

Heath believes the delay could work in her favour. Picture: Jason Edwards

Having only taken up skateboarding four years ago, Heath has shown incredible improvement in the past six months to surge into the reckoning for the Australian team.

“I had no clue (I was any good) until last month or two. When I kept winning heaps and heaps of competitions,” she told the Herald Sun.

“I was really sad (when the Olympics were postponed) and everything, but then I realised it seems like a really big thing but it’s only little for us athletes.

“The Olympics are still on and it’s only a year away so we’ve still got time to improve. So it’s sort of good.”

Like everyone else in Australia, Heath is currently stuck at home, where she can make the most of a secret advantage she has over her opponents: a private skate ramp in her backyard,

It came as an early Christmas present – after plenty of pestering – last year and ensures that even if she can’t get down to the skatepark, Heath won’t go short on practice.

Originally published as Tokyo Olympics 2020: Skate star Charlotte Heath’s hopes of being youngest Australian dashed