The 16-year-old athlete won a bronze medal in skateboarding at Tokyo 2020 and is aiming to surpass that achievement in Paris over the next three weeks.

In addition to her skateboarding prowess, Brown is an elite surfer, though she just missed qualifying for the 2024 Games in that sport. Her unique lifestyle in LA enables her to excel in both disciplines, make new friends, and savour her ascent to the top.

Children from 11+ to be among those competing in Paris

Skateboarder Zheng Haohao from China (11), Indian swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu (14) and two US athletes, gymnast Hezly Rivera (16) and relay runner Quincy Wilson (16) are just some of the young athletes competing at the Olympic Games in Paris. 

While this has caused excitement around the future of some sports, there are also questions about what effect this level of elite competition has on children.

"Adolescence is a highly volatile period, physically, physiologically, cognitively and psycho-socially. Then you overlay the demands of competitive sports at the world-class level and wow, how do you successfully navigate that?" said Michael Bergeron, who has extensively researched young athletes and works with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on youth athletic development.

"You can't anticipate what's going to happen, and in every child, it doesn't happen in the same way, at the same time, and at the same pace to the same degree."