Tokyo 2020 New Sport Highlight: Skateboarding
Skateboarding has seemingly been in pop culture forever for many Gen X’s and Millennials. Although having its roots all the way back to the 1940’s and 1950’s, it really started to emerge as part of mainstream culture in America during the 90’s, with large scale events really taking foot. With superstars making it global, and many brands like being formed around the sport, it is easy to see why it is now such an iconic sport for many.
Despite being such a unique and popular sport, skateboarding has yet to make its appearance on the world single largest sporting event in the world, the Summer Olympic Games. That all changes come Tokyo 2020, with not just one, but two skateboarding events being added to the official itinerary.
Skateboarding at The Olympic Games
Event Location: Ariake Urban Sports Park
Skateboarding as an official Olympic sport is getting all geared up for next summer. A brand new venue is being constructed in the Tokyo Bay Area, called the Ariake Urban Sports Park. It will not only play host to the Skateboarding Events, but the BMX events as well.
Skateboarding will feature four events in total, with two different formats. There will be the park and street events for both men and women. The courses are quite different between the styles, and the environment at the disposal of a skater gives them each a distinct feel. If you have seen the X-Games before, you will know the differences as the events are modeled after the long running competition.
Street Event 26th-27th
The street event differs in many aspects than other skating events, as it tries to replicate the origins of skateboarding. The roots of skateboarding aren’t in fancily constructed parks for competition, but rather the streets of towns and cities. For much of its history, skateboarding wasn’t this iconic sport, but rather one for the “fringe” of society. There were no arenas or local skate parks that the government supported, so one would have to look to their immediate surroundings, such as hand rails, stairs or benches.
The street event will feature a more linear course than it’s Park counterpart. The course will be filled with many rails and a variety of other smaller objects that can act as a platform to perform a trick. You see plenty of grinds performed in the street event more than the park event, mimicking tricks one could expect to perform in any urban area.
Park Event July August 5th-6th
The park event is one of the most recognizable versions of skating competition that exists. For those who played any Tony Hawk video games, you can probably remember building your very own park. It is a fast paced and high flying event, that shows a variety of creativity.
The park event takes place in a multi leveled hollow bowl like structure that allows for lots of momentum to be built by the skateboarder. The lips of the edges of the hollowed out structures act as a multi purpose tool to perform grinds, grabs and a variety of jumps.
Qualifying For The Event
In total there will be 20 skaters in each event, 80 across the entirety of the Summer Olympic Games. Qualifications for the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games can be done so in a variety of ways. There is a maximum of 3 slots per nation for each event. A single slot is awarded to the host nation of Japan, as is customary in all events. The other 19 slots can be obtained one of two ways. The first is by winning a World Championship, which there are only three spots available. The remaining 16 spots will be based on world rankings.
Format
All the events will feature the same format regardless of street or park, man or woman. They will all begin with the prelims, where the field of 20 skaters will compete in 4 separate heats, each containing 5 skaters. The 8 highest scoring skaters from the combined ranking of the heats will then progress to the final round. In the finals the skaters will perform two 45 second runs, and five individually scored tricks. These will then be judged using a scoring system designed for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.
Judging System
The judges for these events will be appointed by World Skate, and they must be certified judges. There will always be at least 5 Judges scoring a round. This may either be with 4 judges and 1 head judge, or 5 judges and 1 head judge. In both scenarios the head judge can act as a tie breaker.
The runs, and each of the five tricks, are scored by five judges who will use a 0 — 10.0 point scale. The lowest and highest scores for each run or trick are cut, and the remaining three scores are averaged out. This will then give a final score for each run and each trick, totaling seven scores. The three lowest scores from those are then dropped and only the best four scores from runs or tricks will be used to make the total round score.
If you would like to read some more rules on judging, safety, etc. Here is the PDF regarding the Olympics that World Skate has released.
World Skate PDF
A Brief History
Skateboarding, similarly to biking can simply be thought of as a form of transportation to get from one location to another. However, ask any real skateboarder and you are sure to be told it is much more than that. It is of course fun and exciting, but can also act as a form of expression. This feeling is essentially what led to the creation of the first skateboard.
In the later 1940’s, early 50’s, the development of the skateboard was actually done so by surfers. The idea was to replicate the feeling of being on the ocean waves, and these first skateboarders were often referred to as “asphalt surfers”. This newfound fad would be really only seen in California and Hawaii at the time.
The 1960’s would be one of the most important decades for the development of skateboarding. The skateboard stopped being considered as a toy and became recognized as sporting gear. It would spread from just a west coast phenomenon to the east coast during the 60's. In 1963, magazines began printing advertisements with skateboards which saw it begin to be put into mainstream media. That year was also the first time a competition was ever held and was done so in Hermosa Beach, California. By 1966 recognizable skating brands and clothing companies like Vans started to pop up.
The 1970’s saw the sport of skateboarding become international. It made it’s way to Germany via American soldiers. Germany began holding its very own championships by the end of the decade. This phenomenon became a catalyst for growth of the sport in Europe. This made the sport officially an international trend. The 1970's would also bring about the invention of the ollie, by skater Alan Gelfand. This revolutionary trick would help change skateboarding forever, sparking loads of creativity to come from it.
The 1980’s brought about higher pay for professional skateboarders and the likes of Tony Hawk broke onto the scene. Despite this the biggest explosion of popularity came in the 1990’s. This is when the sport would ultimately make its way into mainstream culture. The 1990’s brought about with it mega events, such as the X games, making it’s way to television sets worldwide. This wasn’t done just via broadcasts, but through video games as well. This overwhelming support built in the 1990’s would ultimately prop skateboarding to the place we are today, with skateboarding being set to become an official Olympic sport at Tokyo 2020 in just over a years time.
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