The events of Olympic Skateboarding in just its second go around has many crossroads and intersections where conversations, much like these athletes, collide and compete in a world class event. It’s no secret the first 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were nearly eclipsed by cultural debates but it didn’t take long before the actual contests went down, and the skate world at large saw a familiar sight –a skate contest with amazing skaters.
“I was skeptical about the Olympics in 2020,” says Brayden Petering, one of our skate instructors out of Boston. “But when the games began and the contest started, me and all my friends really enjoyed it. I mean, Yuto versus Nyjah for a gold medal? C’mon.”
Since 2020, and now in our second Olympic season in the Paris 2024 games, skateboarding has taken a collective sigh of relief and it felt like our community at large could really enjoy the Olympic games without having to bring up the age-old debates. The spectacle wasn’t so much of, “What will it be like?” but moreso, “Who is going to win?” “What will the course look like?” And “Which skaters are going to make it to the finals?”
One thing for certain is the Olympic games continued to have a huge impact on the trajectory of skateboarding, from single handedly changing how the world views skaters and how skaters view themselves in 2020, to reinforcing some of the core elements of skating. For instance, skateboarding’s first pro skaters were teenagers, and this year’s Olympic podium, unlike most sports, had several teen medalists.
Additionally, the 2024 Paris Olympics introduced new skaters whose approach to learning how to skate was single handedly for the Olympics– training for something other than producing incredible street video parts. That is something that has never happened before in the history of skateboarding. Marking a turning point and representing an opportunity how one can contribute to skateboarding and quite frankly, their country’s skate community.
Of course, just like how tricks evolve, skaters get better and the competition rises, and the trends, insights, and debates have always evolved with it. But with the second season of the Olympics, this time we have the unique opportunity to see Olympic trends specifically. Not X-Games, not street league, not Dew Tour, but the Olympic trends that reach a far deeper global community than a branded contest that happens several times a year.
“My friends and I thought Nyjah was going to win Gold this year,” said Ian Loman, one of our skate instructors from Vegas. “But to know he’ll be training the next 4 years for that one goal, he’s surely going to have another chance. Should be incredible to watch for sure.”
It’s part of what makes every Olympic contest so much fun to watch and talk about with our friends at the skatepark. Now in reviewing these trends and outcomes of the 2024 Paris Olympic games through the athletes and their countries finest skaters, we get an intimate look in real time the ripple effect the Olympics have on the industry at large.
The Youngest Olympian and largest Olympian Age Gap in Olympics History
2024 Paris Olympic Skateboarding saw the youngest Olympian ever to compete, Zheng Haohao, an 11-year old kid representing China. What perhaps is most significant about this, and we mean this with respect, most people, even skaters in California (skateboarding’s mecca) had never heard of the phenomenon until the games.
Comparatedley to Great Britain’s Andy Macdonald, the 51 year-old legend and oldest statesmen to be in the 2024 Olympics. Macdonald used to be Tony Hawk’s doubles partner in the X Games in the late 90s early 2000s. This is the oldest age gap in the history of the Olympics for a single event. That is a badge of honor only skateboarding can wear.
Teenage Podium Sweep in Women’s Skateboard Park Final
Yeah, you read that right. All 3 Olympic medal winners in women’s park are teenagers and one of our podium winners was competing in her second Olympics already.
Let’s start at the top with 14 year old Arisa Trew out of Palm Beach Australia taking home the Gold medal with her impressive final run featuring several 540s and kickflip transfers landing an impressive 93.18. It might be worth mentioning here that the scoring system was updated this Olympics to adjust for men and women, seeing a sliding scale. Nonetheless, scoring in the 90s is no easy task for any contest or gender.
Tokyo Bronze medal winner, 16-year old Sky Brown, pulled into second with 93.21 but was bested when Japan’s Cocona Hiraki came in with her final run to secure another Silver medal. That makes two medals each for both Sky and Cocona, who undoubtedly will make a third Olympic appearance in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Just take a second to imagine you or your child is an Olympic gold medalist at the age of 14. Not just one olympic medal but two. That’s one heck of a student athlete with a bright, bright future.
We have decades of skateboarding tricks and obstacle evolution boiled down into just two formats.
Olympic skateboarding will never completely encompass skateboarding and that’s a beautiful thing. Contributions come from all different types of skaters and different aspects of skateboarding. There’s freestyle, flat ground tricks, plaza ledges, manuals tricks and all types of rail and technical skateboarding you just can’t fit into one contest. To be honest, there were some people skeptical on the course for the park section, finding it limiting creatively with even some being as bold to mention Tony Hawk was disappointed in the course.
On that note, it is also probably worth mentioning how Tony Hawk landed the 900 on a vert ramp, an obstacle not featured in the Olympic games. If the Olympics were around in this capacity in 1999, maybe the 900 and Tony Hawk’s legacy would not exist?
What if’s aside, the fact we have decades of skateboarding evolution boiled down to two disciplines is somewhat unfathomable but it also just goes to show how Olympic skateboarding really only represents less than 1-percent of skaters. We don’t want to bring up old debates but it is significant and a trend that leaves some skaters worried or feeling left out.
We have less than .05% of skaters being represented on the world stage.
It’s really difficult to put into perspective how less than one-percent of skaters are represented in the Olympic Games and just what that means to skating compared to other sports. Because after all, aren’t the Olympic athletes truly the best of the best of each sport? So why would we expect more than 1-percent to be represented? That might be true for most sports but skateboarding is different in the sense some of the best skaters in the world are incredibly street skaters but drop them into a street course competition and they absolutely have zero chance. They can’t deal with a person on a radio queuing them into a ramp or telling them to wait for a commercial break or they don’t have the sponsors financially able to send them to contests all over the world to compete. There’s a lot more that goes into it, including certain privileges like home schooling, being able to leave a country to move to California, and other factors before we can say every skater has an equal opportunity to be represented in the Olympic games. That being, these .05 percent of skaters are still impacting 100% of skaters.
If you are reading this article, the Paris Olympic games affected you. And thousands of people are watching skateboarding for the first time. If for every 100 people, 1 new skater enters the fold, the 2024 Paris Olympic games could very well be the origin story for the next Tony Hawk, Nyjah Houston or Rayssa Leal.
Although Tony Hawk landed the 900, the 900 and the X Games did much more for skateboarding as a whole than just Tony hawk. The trajectory of this impact is going to be much greater than any person can argue against. And while that impact has the potential to do more harm than good, we have to imagine as long as it is leading to new skaters being inspired to step on a skateboard for the first time, skateboarding will always produce the counter culture needed to tip the scales back to the core aspects that make skating such a powerful community.
Olympic Skateboarding is Gaining A Ton of Respect But Certainly Deserves More
This might be the hardest section of this article to articulate because skateboarding needing respect doesn’t make a lot of sense. But what we mean by this is the fact that the broadcasting for Olympic skateboarding was pretty difficult to find. Sure, the Olympic games had it scheduled on time but many skaters complained that in their area their local channel didn’t actually play the contests live. Additionally, many skaters had to tune in to a live stream instead of NBC. Some of our skate instructors had mentioned how they recorded the Olympic games because it said on their T.V. guides it was playing but in fact, Women’s Olympic water polo was shown instead.
On a more positive note, Snoop Dog and Olympians like Devin Booker were in the Athletes section of the skaters, giving high fives and words of encouragement while being completely engaged in the contest. You have to imagine with a host of sports at their fingertips to choose from, high profile athletes are choosing to come to the skate events, is pretty telling. The skate events are also happening quite early in the morning for the best weather possible but some skaters have complained there still isn’t enough being done to support the athletes. Why reports have been minimal, it has long been known that the Paris Olympic games refused to put air-conditioning in the Olympic village.
Luckily skaters are the toughest athletes on the planet but it’s worth mentioning the sports world at large is starting to acknowledge just how spectacular skaters are as athletes and as a crowd draw. Mark our words, one day Olympic skateboarding will be one of the most talked about Olympic sporting events in the entire Olympics.
The U.S., home to skateboarding’s birthplace, does not dominate the podium like other major sports
Forget decades ago, how about even just before the first 2020 Olympic games… Imagine if we told you the USA would have yet to win a single gold medal? It would sound impossible right? But that is exactly what happened at the 2024 Paris Olympic skateboarding games.
Australia’s Keegan Palmer took home Olympic gold for the second Olympics in a row for men’s park with some of the most technical sound and gnarly park skating ever seen, backing up his teammate Arisa Trew from Australia after she took home Gold for Olympic Women’s Park. While yes, the U.S. took home Silver with Tom Schaar for Men’s Park and Silver with Jager Eaton for men’s street, it goes to show how valuable the addition of skateboarding has been to the global Olympic Games and how every corner of the globe makes up this competitive community.
Skateboarding Will Return to its Birthplace in 2028
What a perfect way to wrap up this article then the realization skateboarding is about to return to its birthplace of Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympic Games. Skateboarding and the Olympics as a whole have a unique opportunity to showcase skateboarding’s roots and hopefully don’t let this opportunity go for granted. Imagine skateboarding’s founding fathers like Tony Alva and Jason Lee being able to not only witness but provide their commentary nearly 60 years after skating conception. It will be an amazing opportunity to provide a real context to just how much skateboarding has evolved since those early days of DogTown and to hear straight from the legends who were there. At GOSKATE we’re extremely excited at the prospect of the Olympics returning to Los Angeles where conditions are perfect for skating.
These ponderings are just some of the cultural implications of the Olympics but even so, skateboarding collectively enjoys what these amazing skaters are accomplishing, with the industry at large tuning in to congratulate the next Olympic class of skaters. Wherever you are on the Olympic skateboarding debate, we are all in this together. So we might as well enjoy it.
Your Kid Could Be An Olympic Skateboarder
Does your child or loved one have what it takes to be an Olympic skateboarder? Are you looking to introduce your child to the highest trained skateboarding instruction in the world? What if we told you that 90-percent of Olympic skaters were taught by a skate instructor or skate coach at some point?
Without a doubt GOSKATE would love the chance to teach your child what it takes to become an amazing skateboarder. Contact us today and find out the local skate instructors in your area. And who knows, maybe one day your child will be competing on television around the globe as an Olympic Skateboarder.
