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Skateboarding as an Olympic Sport? Will Kids Start Their Training Now?
Skateboarding at the Olympics?
When one thinks of the Olympics one generally thinks swimming, gymnastics and/or Greco-Roman wrestling. But skateboarding? Not so much. But this urban pastime may have a place in the sun at the Olympics, a development that would probably thrill parents even more than their kids. While some parents may look at their kid’s passion for skating as a waste of time, a place in the Olympics would really legitimize the sport, which has gone from a counter-culture hobby to a much more mainstream and respected discipline. So when will and what are the chances that it will be included?
Think about it this way, you’ll have plenty of time to prep your kids for their chance at the gold. It probably wouldn’t become a reality until 2020. Yes, it’s a long process and one in which the International Cycling Union (ICU) has been helping with.
“Discussions aren’t very far advanced yet, it’s just an idea that has come up in discussions with the IOC because of the success of BMX when we brought that into the Beijing Olympic Games,” said the ICU president.
But the International Olympic Committee sees the marketing potential of including a popular sport like skateboarding saying, “(BMX and skateboard) are both… (similar) lifestyle events that attract very much the youth culture of today and it’s important for sport to attract youth.”
But it sounds like they still aren’t sold on skateboarding as a whole adding, “We have strong evidence that athletes come in through BMX and then go up into other disciplines afterwards, there’s no reason why skateboarding wouldn’t do the same.” They are not seeing skateboarding as the end game but rather an entry point, but still they seem to see the value of adding it.
Do you think skateboarding deserves to be in the Olympics?
Image: Flickr Smashthirteen
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