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Skateboarding

Should Skateboarding Be In The Olympics?

What would it mean for skateboarding?

Tom Schar competes in X Games big air. To majority of skaters this is a long way from the everyday reality of skateboarding.

5) It Would Mean Competitive Skateboarding Nause Overshadowing Everything

Skateboarding for most people is just about going out, trying stuff and having fun.

The X Games and Street League are undeniably interesting and somewhat entertaining to watch, but they’re far removed from most skaters’ reality.

The Olympics would be like this and then some and there’s the danger that they would overshadow everything else.

Competitive skaters who win gold medals would get the most recognition and the most attention.

Skaters making videos or doing creative new tricks on new spots would struggle to get sponsorship.

6) It Would Mean Skating Becoming Too Serious

To most skaters, skateboarding is more of a hobby or a lifestyle than a sport. It’s not like skaters go out for a shralp and class it as ‘training’ for the big comp or so that trick they want to film is perfectly bolts. They go out and shralp for the sheer love of it.

The inclusion of skateboarding in the Olympics could create a sporting outlook on skateboarding which would become the norm to most households.

“The next generation of new skateboard youth would most likely end up fully padded, down the local skatepark everyday ‘training'”

The next generation of new skateboard youth would most likely end up fully padded, down the local skatepark everyday ‘training’ with their dad coach measuring how far they cleared the driveway and analysing every trick they landed to see how to improve it.

Arguably the X Games and Street League are bringing this kind of seriousness in already, but the Olympics would make it more prominent.

If it gets to the point where that’s all the kids who start skating are into – instead of pushing creativity, stylish skating and doing it for fun – skating could turn into just another sport. Bland as fuck.

7) It Would Mean Drugs Testing… With Hilarious Consequences.

So lets picture that skateboarding is in the Olympics, all the top pros and ams have qualified to compete and they’re asked to take a drugs test. How many would actually pass it?

Ben and Tas Pappas – two hard-partying Australian vert stars from the 90s who both spent time in prison on drugs charges. Photo: Independent Trucks

It would be hilarious to see skaters going cold turkey to compete, turning up on the pale as fuck having withdrawal symptoms.

Obviously there would be straight edge skaters who could represent their country in the Olympics but those guys are boring right?

What do you think? Would skateboarding becoming an Olympic sport be good or bad, and how would it change the sport? Let us know in the comments section below

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