The Most Refreshing Sport At The Tokyo Olympics? Skateboarding
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CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games this year, bringing a refreshing change of pace to the worldâs biggest compe...
CAROLINE PETROW-COHEN Skateboarding made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games this year, bringing a refreshing change of pace to the worldâs biggest competition. Unlike most other Olympic events, the culture of skateboarding is based not in winning but in joy and individuality.Since its inception, skateboarding has defied conformity. Born in California in the 1950s, skateboarding became synonymous with the counterculture of the â60s and served as a safe haven for societyâs outcasts. Considered more of a lifestyle than a sport, skateboarding offered an escape from the mainstream and a platform for people to be themselves.Skateboardingâs global popularity launched it onto the Olympic stage, but its counterculture roots remain alive and well. Other Olympic events exist within a clearly established structure, but skateboarding has been anti-establishment from the start. âSkateboarding presents so many more options than you typically have in sports,â said Neftalie Williams, a visiting fellow at Yale University and postdoctoral scholar at the University of Southern California, who studies the interplay of diversity, identity and skate culture. âYou have an entire sporting culture thatâs marginalized, that has placed less emphasis on competition and focused more on expression, and has learned that thatâs the vocabulary.âIn this way, skateboarding is nearly impossible to define. But ask a skater at any level what skating means to them, and youâll get a similar answer: What attracted them to the sport was freedom, community and creativity, not competition or being the best.âThereâs no other sport in the world, no other art in the world, no other culture in the world that transcends boundaries in the way that skateboarding does,â said sponsored Los Angeles skater Ethan Singleton, whoâs worked on research with Williams at USC.Skateboarding doesnât quite fit into any traditional sports box, much less the ultra competitive and highly polished spirit of the Olympic Games. But its presence in Tokyo brought a playfulness and individuality to the sport worldâs biggest stage.âI was having an absolute blast,â American bronze medalist Jagger Eaton said about competing in the street event, where he nodded his head to music and laughed with his fellow competitors at the top of the course. All 20 skateboarders competing there were friendly with one another, he said.âGrowing up, skateboarding was my freedom and my creative outlet,â Eaton said. âSkateboarding is an art form, and every one of us does it differently. Name another sport like that in the Olympic Games.âEvery skateboarder has their own unique style, revealed in the way they approach obstacles, pop tricks or grab their board midair. There are no rules in skateboarding, no standards, no rigid structure â even at the Olympics. According to Mimi Knoop, professional skateboarder and head coach for the U.S. Olympic skateboard team, judges score the athletes based on trick progression, difficulty level and originality.âWe donât have points for certain tricks because we wanted to stay away from that to keep it a little more creative,â Ms. Knoop said. âIt comes down to little subtleties that arenât really written down or necessarily defined in our sport. It makes things a little subjective, but thatâs just how we do it.âIn the midst of tense competition and mental health struggles, skateboarding was like a beacon of light as I watched the Olympic Games.âSkateboarding is where I feel I can express myself and let my own creativity play out,â American Olympian Alana Smith said. âAt the Olympics, I definitely feel like it freshens up the environment and shows that it doesnât have to be such a stressful time.âWhile skateboarding allows an athleteâs individuality to shine through, the community is cohesive as well. âI feel like weâve always been looked at as the outcasts,â Ms. Smith said, referring to the societal stigma pinned on skateboarders, âand weâve all become a really big family.âIf you watched the Olympics, the way the skateboarders interacted with each other was often in stark contrast to other athletes. Competitors at some events, like gymnastics or swimming, typically didnât stray far from their teammates. But skateboarders were enjoying each otherâs company and lifting each other up regardless of country affiliation.âFrom my point of view, weâre having a lot more fun than everyone else,â Knoop said. âThereâs an unspoken understanding between skaters and a bond thatâs there.âNot everyone agrees that skateboarding belongs in the Olympics. Some say The Games represent a commercialization that strays too far from skateboardingâs counterculture roots. But skateboarding never really needed the platform of the Olympics in the first place.Sports agent Yulin Olliver, who represents Olympians like Mariah Duran and Bryce Wettstein, said that skateboarding as a sport and lifestyle is inherently self-sufficient. Thereâs no need for coaches, teams or organized competitions. Those things exist in skateboarding, of course, but not out of necessity. As long as there are individuals who skateboard and find joy in doing so, the culture of skateboarding will remain strong.âItâs almost like the Olympics needed skateboarding,â Ms. Olliver said, ânot the other way around.â(Caroline Petrow-Cohen is an Opinion intern at the Los Angeles Times.)More Related News