Thoughts on Olympic Skateboarding
I’m a veteran competitive skateboarder. Here’s my take on the 2020 Olympics.
In less than two years, skateboarding will be in the Olympics. I spent my weekend at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires to get a better perspective of how that will work and my potential role in the process.
The politics and bureaucracy of making skateboarding an Olympic sport are complicated at best, but there are a few people up for the challenge, and they’re working tirelessly on skateboarding’s behalf. Although I am sometimes chosen to be an “ambassador” to skating, I am not one of them in this effort. In many ways, I am on the outside looking in with a critical perspective.
I believe the summer Olympics need the “cool” factor of skateboarding more than skateboarding needs Olympic validation, in the same way snowboarding provides a youthful energy to the winter games. I also believe that skateboarding has leverage in keeping the format authentic and the culture represented properly. There are many issues to work through: governing bodies, qualifying events, judging, mandatory apparel, helmet usage, etc. It all seems overwhelmingly impossible to resolve when you’ve attended the stagnant meetings or are cc’d in email chains.
I have confidence that Olympic…
