Skaters O'Neill, Wilson ready to make Australia proud in Tokyo

TOKYO, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Shane O'Neill and Hayley Wilson are ready to "make Australia proud" in the men's and women's skateboarding street events as the sport makes its debut at the upcoming Tokyo Olympic Games.

"It's definitely a new experience," said 2016 world champion O'Neill. "Being in a competition like this, we are competing for our countries, and that's new and different, because usually you're doing it for yourself."

Team Australia arrived in Tokyo without two of their best skaters, including 13-year-old Charlotte Heath, who failed to secure a berth after testing positive for COVID-19 at an Olympic qualifier.

"It's definitely hard to see your friends go through that," said Australian national champion Wilson. "It was really upsetting, but I'm definitely going to make them and Australia proud and show them what I've got."

Said 31-year-old O'Neill, "I think they are all quite young and I know they have bright future, so they're going to make it to the next games."

The skateboarding events will be staged in the Ariake Sports Park, with the men's street gold up for grabs first on July 25. O'Neill believes that the Olympic course will enable skaters from around the world to perform their best tricks freely.

"For us, the course is quite large and has so many different obstacles and [you can] really skate however you want to. That's cool for me, and I think it's cool for all skaters to be able to do the best things in their own way," the 2016 X Games silver medalist said.

Skateboarding is one of the youth-oriented sports newly introduced to the Olympics for Tokyo 2020.

"I love watching other sports in their traditional ways. But with skating it's a lot different. It's kind of like an art form. Everyone's going to be doing different tricks, like a selection of things, because we've got so much to choose from," O'Neill said.