The Skateboarding Olympic QuestionsIt’s been pretty fascinating...

The Skateboarding Olympic Questions

It’s been pretty fascinating to watch the reaction to skateboarding in the Olympics. I spoke for just a couple of minutes on Times Radio and answered a handful of questions that sort of sum up the public’s reaction. “Will the public understand this?”, “Isn’t it a youth sport?”, “Isn’t it dangerous?”…

Surveying Twitter gives a curious, and of course tilted, insight into what non-skaters make of this new addition to the Olympic roster. The criticism is highlights the continued understanding of skateboarding.

Responses to the the official Olympics Tweet seeking to gauge the reaction shows the range of thoughts.

There is also lots of talk about skaters with headphones on, phones in their pockets, and lots and lots of falling off. Most importantly the critique serves to elevate the importance and pomp of the Olympics and serve to dismiss skateboarding. This is so fascinating because skateboarding is in essence fun, and nothing is more serious than fun. 

The reaction from skateboarders is largely ambivalent with some mild pleasure in the way in which skateboarding continues to be represented largely as it is; a relaxed fraternity unfazed by the grandeur of the nationalism at play. As Kristin Ebeling reminds us ‘never stop hopping fences.’