We had been discussing the bruises on Sky Brown's legs – 39, she declared proudly, before she leapt onto her skateboard, to amass a few more.
It was March 2019. She was ten years old and had just received UK Sport funding to help her qualify for the Olympic Games. She was showing me her skills at a skateboarding park in Salford.
My abiding memory? Sheer terror. Emphasis on the sheer. I'd picked my way gingerly around the top of the performance 'bowl', not daring to venture too close to the edge. She was right on the edge (of sporting glory, yes, but here I'm meaning more literally).
We were discussing Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj, then she tipped her board and simply disappeared down the drop. No helmet. No knee pads. Aarrgh! She swooshed down and up the other side, her little body (just 4ft of it) flipping upside down on the turn.
It was like watching a child run into traffic. I remember feeling like a killjoy when asking her dad Stuart: a) how he hadn't fainted; and b) how he could possibly sanction this without a helmet at least.
The little girl who had told me proudly that she hadn't broken a bone shattered her wrist and hand, and cracked her skull. She was unconscious when she was airlifted to hospital. Even her parents wanted her to stop then. 'They didn't want me to skate anymore,' she admitted. Happily for her Olympic ambitions, they relented, and let her soar again
It was March 2019. She was ten years old and had just received UK Sport funding to help her qualify for the Olympic Games. She was showing me her skills at a skateboarding park in Salford. Pictured: Sky yesterday
'It's the thing we have most arguments about,' he replied.
'She hates the pads, but we insist on them for the bigger bowls, and if she's on concrete.'
How did it feel for Sky, though? 'It felt like I was flying,' she told me. 'The minute I stop, I want to do it again, but higher'.
The images our photographer Bruce took that day were extraordinary but, oh, the stomach churning sensation when it was decided he would lie on the floor and she would jump over him on her skateboard. This kid was ten years old! Were we insured for this? What if? How would it end?
Now we know. It has ended – this chapter anyway – with Sky becoming our youngest ever Olympic medallist, aged just 13.
There were more bruises along the way, of course. Indeed much worse. In 2020 Sky, who was born in Japan but to a British father, hence her qualifying for Team GB, almost died when a 'trick' went disastrously wrong.
The little girl who had told me proudly that she hadn't broken a bone shattered her wrist and hand, and cracked her skull.
Those perhaps hoping to emulate Sky's success might want to think carefully before just grabbing a skateboard and pushing off. Pictured: Yesterday
She was unconscious when she was airlifted to hospital. Even her parents wanted her to stop then. 'They didn't want me to skate anymore,' she admitted. Happily for her Olympic ambitions, they relented, and let her soar again.
And how. The fact that she is only just a teenager was reflected in her infectious reaction to her win.
'It was a super sick final,' she said after that heart-stopping event. 'All the girls were ripping it, it was insane. I'm so stoked. I can't believe it, it's unbelievable. The medal feels unreal, it's like a dream. I can't wait to show the medal to my family and friends.
'I was a little nervous but I'm happy to be here and honestly, I just wanted to land my trick. I didn't really care what place I got, I wanted to land my trick.
'I really hope I inspire some girls. I feel like people think I'm too young and I can't do it but, if you believe in yourself, you can do anything. I believed in myself and I'm here.'
What a role model. Doubtless, sales of skateboards will soar now.
But those perhaps hoping to emulate Sky's
