skateboard is the sport in which the practitioner balances on a board with four wheels, performing maneuvers and jumps.
The board used in the sport is named after skateboarding, which ended up giving the name to the sport. It can also be called skateboarding (in English), skateboarding (Portuguese version) and skiing (in Portuguese).
Skateboarding emerged in the United States between 1950 and 1960, with californian surfers, looking for an alternative for days when there were no good waves in the sea.
Being practiced on the streets and on skateparks, the sport aims to perform specific and unusual maneuvers and jumps, with or without obstacles, and of various degrees of difficulty. There are several modalities within skateboarding, such as street, freestyle, downhill speed and vertical.
skateboarding history
Skateboarding started to be practiced between the 1950s and 1960s, in the United States, more precisely in the California. In the dry months or with bad waves, skateboarding was the alternative to surfing for those who practice the sport.
The first championships skateboarding started as early as 1965. Gradually skateboarding ceased to be a sport directly related to surfing, to have its own practitioners and later define a lifestyle.
In the 1970s, skateboarding no longer looked like a surfboard. It was during this period that the polyurethane wheels, which revolutionized the practice of the sport. Polyurethane is a plastic, which allowed better control of the board.
Between the 1980s and 1990s, the practice gained popularity around the world, especially through the name of Tony Hawk, considered one of the best skateboarders and star of a series of video games about skateboarding.
He was the first to carry out the maneuver 900 at the X Games in San Francisco in 1999. The 900 maneuver gets its name because the skater performs two full 360° spins in the air, plus half a 180° spin.
In 2020, skateboarding was considered olympic sport, debuting at the Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Skate in Brazil
In Brazil, skateboarding has also been practiced since the 1960, especially among surfers. As in the rest of the world, the sport gradually ceased to be associated with surfing and gained its own popularity.
the skater Bob Burnquist was the Brazilian pioneer and, in 1997, was considered the best skater in the world. Two years later, in 1999, the Brazilian Confederation of Skateboarding (CBSK).
Brazil was present at the debut of the sport at the Olympics, taking the podium with Kelvin Hoefler, silver medalist, and Rayssa Leal (only 13 years old and nicknamed the "skate fairy"), also with a silver medal.
Skateboarding modalities
Skateboarding has several modalities and sub-modalities, which are characterized by the movements performed and the type of terrain on which it is practiced. The most famous modalities are:
- street: is street skateboarding, in which the skater uses the city's elements and buildings to perform maneuvers, such as stairs and handrails.
- Freestyle: the maneuvers are performed on the ground and in sequence.
- Downhillspeed: high-speed modality, in which skaters go down a slope. It has sub-modalities such as downhill slide, in which the skateboard performs maneuvers while descending.
- Vert or vertical: It is practiced on high skate parks. It has sub-modalities like halpha-pipe, with U-shaped tracks, and bowl, which came up with practice in empty pools.
- Park: modality that unites elements of several others, there are, for example, obstacles on the tracks.
- mini ramps: mode with smaller ramps, which are not vertical.
At its first Olympics, Tokyo 2020 (which was held in 2021), skateboarding was present with two modalities: street It is park.
See too what are the olympics It is discover more extreme sports.
