“The Olympics are not a war”. Why the Games need “street” sports

The Olympic Games are coming to an end. It was a momentous event for the extreme sports community. It was awaited, endlessly discussed, and there is still no consensus among extreme sportsmen whether the Olympics were good for extreme sports or not.

However, experts and adherents of classical sports are all-out criticizing extreme sports as a failed debut at the Games. In social networks one can find statements that this is not a sport, but a culture to which the word “discipline” is alien. And that the whole idea with the Olympics and action athletes is a failure.

We talked to representatives of the extreme community and got their opinion on the matter.

“All riders in action disciplines risk their lives every second. And not all sports have such risks”

Maxim Larionov, host of extreme events in Russia

Maybe we shouldn’t judge this sport within the framework of high performance sports. Maybe we shouldn’t put this sport outside of culture. And the freedom for which this sport is so reviled should simply be left alone? To answer these questions, let’s go back to the beginning.

BMX, skateboarding, and surfing both originated as antagonisms to classic sports. The teenagers who started these sports didn’t want to be in the system. The very essence of street skating was not only the difficulty of the tricks, but where and how those tricks were performed.

On the same railing at the stairs it was possible to do not only 10 different tricks, but also to demonstrate your uniqueness by riding on it from the top down, and vice versa, from the bottom up. This approach to action sports made the guys not only athletes, but also artists. Their author’s presentation and professional vision of the sport made them pro-riders, gave them sponsorship contracts.

Many riders became real rock stars thanks to their free view on this or that discipline.

The basis of extreme sports is not only very good physical fitness. But also the ability of a rider to come up with dozens of different combinations on the same spot. An extreme rider’s head works differently. Where an ordinary person sees just a ladder, bench or ramp, an action athlete sees a full-fledged platform for demonstrating his skills.

In 2017, the decision was made to expand the sport cohort and add bmx freestyle, skateboarding and surfing. Traditionally, these three disciplines are considered the pillars of summer extreme sports. To understand the popularity among the youth, you can look at the top competitions in these disciplines.

FISE alone, held in the city of Montpellier, is not just a week-long extreme sports festival that gathers the top athletes of the planet, but also a budget-forming event for the city treasury. Anticipated all year long, it is a real show, located in several venues throughout Montpellier. Online broadcasts from FISE rack up hundreds of thousands of views, and advertising contracts pay for one of the most expensive build-ups in the world of extreme sports.

But getting extreme sports into the Olympics doesn’t meet with widespread support within the extreme bark. The main fear of the “old-timers of the movement” is that freedom will leave extreme sports. The framework, which is actively promoted by the big bureaucratic sports machine, scares even current athletes, pioneers at the Olympic Games. And the point here is not only in training, in the absence of which so actively reproach the “classics” extremists.

Listen, look at any professional action-athlete, performing at the international level. His life is all about training, physique, balance, acrobatics and skating itself, endless amounts of skating. I assure you that his workload is comparable to that of the “classics”.

The participants are not “passable” kids from the schoolyard. Any professional sport is the best physical preparation, which is achieved only by daily training. The complex of exercises is aimed at the fact that within one minute the athlete showed his maximum, could consecutively “drive away” 7-10 tricks that require maximum concentration.

Failure to perform even one trick not only removes a point, but can take an athlete’s life. We constantly miss one important point: all riders in action disciplines risk their lives every second, and not all sports have such risks. Yes, they take those risks voluntarily, but that doesn’t give them the right to take it for granted.

“The reasons why people are losing interest in the Games lie in the fact that from an event about sports they have become a theater of war, where states are trying to prove their superiority”

Vitaly Kotov, organizer of the largest skateboarding events in Russia

Talking about the lack of spectacle in the Olympics sounds funny against the background of how TV ratings for the Olympics broadcasts are falling. To understand: the U.S., the biggest TV market for the Games, has the worst ratings in 33 years. But the funny thing is that it was surfing and skateboarding that helped boost interest in the broadcast. This statement was made by the IOC’s managing director of television and marketing services, Timo Lamme.

The age spread in skateboarding is huge, with riders and riders both as young as 13 and well into their 30s competing. The oldest competitor is 46, that’s Run Glifberg from Denmark. The untrained reader gets the impression that the skateboarding competition is like a children’s matinee, where kids who got on a skateboard a couple months ago share precious medals.

Those who talk about devaluing the entire Olympics by including sports they don’t understand are devaluing the athletes themselves.

The list of skateboard competitors is huge, and there are no random people on it. The road for skaters and skateboarders to the Olympics has been a long and arduous one. There are fractures, defeats, tears, everything just like the “adults”. The level of competition is so high that athletes from many countries, including Russia, simply could not get there. This is the very real competition.

I can tell you about the bronze medal winner in the “Park” discipline – Sky Brown. By the time she was 13, she had placed in dozens of different international competitions. Skye has been skateboarding since the age of three (!!!) and is one of the youngest professional athletes in the discipline.

She’s the face of Nike’s ad campaigns, and her 1.2 million followers on Instagram are extra proof of her recognizability. Skye Brown has just as much right to be called an Olympic champion as volleyball players and gymnasts. Skye is already a role model for thousands of girls around the world.

To understand the risks skateboarders take every day, just watch this video of then 12-year-old Skye Brown.

I realized what the mission of having skateboarders show up at this elite private club was. A wooden board with wheels and a 13-year-old girl flying two meters out of a concrete pool and landing on a pedestal appeared to show the “adult” snobs who perceive the Games as a war that peace is at the heart of the Olympic movement.

A British commentator who genuinely doesn’t understand how athletes competing against each other can not be blood enemies but hugging and genuinely cheering for each other, as they did in skateboarding, is the clearest example of this hardened thinking.

The reasons why people are losing interest in the games lie in the fact that from being an event about sports, they have become a theater of war where nations seek to prove their superiority using the most disgusting methods. Federations, officials and sports journalists do not care about sport itself, athletes, their feelings and their health, both physical and mental, they say so in plain text, and then are surprised that in 2021 nobody needs such a “pinnacle of world sport”.

“You set a goal and achieve it, but with no limits like in all other sports. There are no limits.”

Pavel Mushkin, professional skateboarder and president of the public organization for the development and popularization of skateboarding

Skateboarding is a street sport, and that’s why mostly street kids do it. But now, thanks to the Olympics, new players come into it and develop, so to say, in other conditions. It’s not a bad thing, it’s quite a normal practice.

For me skateboarding is both a hobby and my job, and thanks to it I got a lot of things in my life. I started skating in 2003, I dreamed of getting sponsorship and I achieved it. Here you set yourself a goal and achieve it, but with no limits like in all other sports. There’s no limits. It’s about expressing yourself.

Of course, there are a lot of people who say that skateboarding is underground and it should stay that way. But its inclusion in the Olympics doesn’t say anything, it’s still about being yourself. No one is forcing you to do a high performance sport – go skate on a pipe or whatever, do whatever you want. It’s only getting better: skate parks are being built, new guys are coming in and the industry is growing. And those who whine their whole lives, keep whining and seeing only negativity in everything.

“Moving forward is just moving forward.”

Igor Ignatiev, ideologist and founder of New Star Camp festival

I would not like to get into taste and measure with my “strict” like/dislike. Inclusion in Olympic disciplines is formed primarily by demand and compliance with a number of strict criteria, such as the presence of federations, representation in a certain number of countries, etc. I hope that in the near future demand will shape the agenda in the Olympic program, TV content and social media highlights.

I am glad that action sports disciplines will receive state support in our country, although in some other countries there is no need for state support simply by creating their own financial model. Moving forward is just moving forward.

Sonya Kuzminova, extreme sports videographer

By no means will I minimize the achievements of rowers, gymnasts, swimmers and other athletes, but the world trends are changing at the moment. Thinking in this case stereotypes is simply inappropriate, it is necessary to keep up with the times and open the way to something new and more spectacular.

Today, top competitions in skateboarding or surfing gather thousands of spectators, and the mass participation can only be envied. There are a lot of athletes, big and really tough competition. And to say that it is much easier to become the best in the world in conditions of this competition than in swimming is simply illiterate.

How can you say that athletes in one discipline spend their whole life preparing for competitions, for the Olympic Games, going to this goal, but in skateboarding or surfing and similar disciplines listed above, which, according to some, should be removed from the Olympic Games altogether, do not?

People get up on boards from the age of three to be on par with world stars by 15.

Why downplay the accomplishments of a 13 year old girl who trains just as hard every day to be the best? And is it safe to say that she plows less than 15 year old gymnasts? Some people just don’t understand the much greater interest of young people in these disciplines, maybe they should open their eyes and look around? Trends change, generations change, and what was popular 20-30 years ago is now significantly inferior to what it is today.

“As long as the extreme sports cohort is dominated by athletes who came from the street, there is a feeling that the sport is in safe hands”

Maxim Larionov, Extreme Events Host in Russia

The judging even in the last four years has transformed a lot. The level of stunts grows from one world championship to another, and at the same time subjectivism plays a very big role in these disciplines. There is a fear that the desire of a big bureaucratic machine to drive the sport into a framework and come to the format of figure skating, where there is a compulsory program and a free program with a clearly defined set of elements, may win out. But as long as the sports cohort of extreme athletes is dominated by athletes who came from the street, there is a feeling that the sport is in safe hands. But the younger generation will certainly need to work with them and remind them where the sport comes from. We need to remember our roots, our culture and appreciate the freedom of extreme sports.