Photo/Illutration Rieko Iwakata, a former member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, hopes that the skateboarding venue in the capital’s Koto Ward, seen in the background, will be cherished for future generations. (Shuhei Nomura)

A rebellious former artistic roller skater who disdained the Olympics is now seen as an instrumental figure in the successful debut of skateboarding at the Tokyo Summer Games.

Rieko Iwakata has dropped her aversion to the Olympics, but she remains a contrarian.

For example, the 34-year-old said she hates iPhones because everyone has one. “I don’t want to follow trends,” she said.

Iwakata became Japan’s No. 1 artistic roller skater when she was 14 years old and went on to win 14 national competitions.

She learned her skills in the United States during high school and moved to Italy for training after graduating from college.

In her last international competition, Iwakata tripped while making dance steps.

But she had no regrets about retiring from the sport, thinking that she did everything she could.

With her maverick nature and her background in a minor sport, Iwakata had expressed a strong dislike of the Olympics and all of the media coverage of the events.

When skateboarding was added to the Tokyo Olympic program, sports on skating wheels, such as skateboarding and artistic roller skating, were placed together under one governing international organization.

Given her international experience in artistic roller skating, the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee offered her a job.

After she accepted the offer in 2018, Iwakata said she realized that her opposition to the Olympics was perhaps her way of masking her secret longing to be part of the Games.

She worked as an intermediary between the skateboarders, who wanted to practice freely, and the organizing committee, which sought to control the competitors’ training times and travel.

Iwakata made strenuous efforts to iron out the differences between the two sides.

She vividly remembers a foreign photographer who was appreciative of how the competition was organized without ruining the skateboarding culture.

“I think I could convey the charm of sports that goes beyond winning or losing,” Iwakata said.

Her contract with the committee expired in November. She now intends to devote herself to promoting artistic roller skating.

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