Many claim that the saying ‘Age is just a number’ is just that, a saying. One cannot fight age no matter how hard one tries, as it’ll eventually start affecting your body. Well, skater Judi Oyama is really trying her hardest to defy it. At the age of 64, many choose low-intensity things to do like bowling and pickleball. However, that’s not Oyama.

The Japanese-American has defied every age-related norm in search of something intense and doing what she really loves. She has thus been skateboarding for the last five decades. This has gotten her a lot of attention from tabloids and magazines that are in awe of her abilities. Her philosophy is to ignore her growing age as long as possible.

Talking to Santacruz Sentinel, Judi Oyama said, “I know one day I’ll eat (sh–) and crash, but I don’t know; I’m still having fun.” She added, “You can still eat (sh–) and crash walking down the stairs. And I feel like at least I’m doing something I like. I like the adrenaline.” It is exactly that philosophy that has made her compete with women barely half her age.

Despite that, Judi remains competitive, as she finished 14th at the 2024 World Skate Games. This also made her finish 3rd among the Americans. Thus, despite being a senior citizen, she remains one of the best skaters in America. Now, she is all set to achieve the Guinness world record for the longest female skating career ever. Nobody can say she hasn’t thoroughly deserved it. Yet, it’s not like she hasn’t thought of retirement.

The skater has been planning to finally call it a day and start mentoring the younger generation for quite some time. However, the thrill of skateboarding always brings her back. “I always say, ‘Go one more year,’ but it has been 20-something more years,” said Judi Oyama. She came close to retirement in the World Skate Games this year but is now all set to participate in two more events. Thus, she is set to stay for quite a while now. After all, it only makes sense that she’s trying to hang on with the sport for so long as she fell in love with it at a very young age.

Judi Oyama’s long love affair with skateboarding

Oyama was barely 13 when she started skateboarding on a wooden board made by her brother. In 1976, she would compete in her first race in the Capitola Classic. That’s when she knew this was her calling. She started training with John Huston, a world champion, and improved quite drastically. After this, she started getting sponsorships, shifting her focus to Sloalom. Since then, she has been competing without any drop in her passion and dedication.

While there have been physical roadblocks in the way with an injury affecting her badly at 19, where she suffered a broken ankle while attempting to pull off a ‘washboard’. However, even after getting injured, she climbed back up and successfully completed her task just to salvage her pride.

All her efforts finally became successful in 2004, when she became the world champion at the age of 43. She has had a largely decorated career with many awards. Her passion has never waned, as she still travels everywhere on a skateboard. Thus, it seems like Judi has lived her dream to continue the thing she loves for as long as she can. Hopefully, the day where she hangs up her boots from skateboarding is still far away.