Valjalo skates his way to the Olympics
KYALAMI – Brandon Valjalo, who is currently the highest ranking skateboarder on the continent, aims to bring home gold from the Olympics in Tokyo later this month.
With skateboarding making its debut at this year’s Olympic Games, one of South Africa’s finest will represent the country in street skateboarding.
Brandon Valjalo, a 23-year-old Kyalami resident, has been skating since he picked it up as a hobby from his father and brother at a young age. Since then, he has made a name for himself on the global stage with his immense skills.
Upon the announcement of qualifying for the Olympics, Valjalo recalled feeling excited and honoured to be named after taking part in qualification tournaments in Los Angeles, San Diego, California, and Sao Paulo in 2019.
The second half of the qualification stage last year was postponed and then cancelled due to the coronavirus. A the end of last year, the first of two South African World Championships took place.
The 23-year-old came second in the first competition in December last year, and won the second competition which took place in May. “Once the list was confirmed that I’ve qualified, I was overwhelmed by the whole experience but honoured at the opportunity to go and represent my country and my people. I also do feel a lot of pressure, but I’ve been focusing on all my training and all the hard work I’ve put in behind the scenes. Now all I can do is go and enjoy myself.”
While the skateboarding community in the country is quite small, Valjalo has seen it growing, especially with the youth. He hopes this will also show that skateboarders are professional athletes. “We’re seeing a lot more youth getting into it, and more people coming to skate parks. In Cape Town, a lot more skate parks are being built as well.
“With the rapid growth of skateboarding, especially with the Olympic stamp of approval, more corporate investment [is needed] to help support the athletes make this a job and not something on the side.”
Valjalo gave the utmost gratitude to family, friends and companies who continue to sponsor him throughout the various qualification events and now to the Olympics.
He wants to continue inspiring the youth to take up skateboarding. “I’ve pretty much reached my goal of being at the highest point in competitive skateboarding that I set for myself years ago. So now it is about going out there and showing what South Africa has to offer on the world skateboarding stage,” he concluded.
