Tag: Skateboarding

US gets their medals, gymnasts falter during qualifying, Ledecky on deck for Sunday

After failing to win medals on day 1, the U.S. bounced back Saturday. Looking to Sunday, don’t miss swimming, skateboarding and men’s gymnastics.

After failing to win medals on day 1, the U.S. bounced back Saturday. Looking to Sunday, don’t miss swimming, skateboarding and men’s gymnastics.

Skateboarding medalists on what they’ll do next time they are stopped by cops for skating

Olympic street skateboarding medalists Jagger Eaton and Kelvin Hoefler discuss “no skating here” areas and what they’ll do if they’re stopped by cops.

Olympic street skateboarding medalists Jagger Eaton and Kelvin Hoefler discuss “no skating here” areas and what they’ll do if they’re stopped by cops.

Skateboarding makes Olympic debut in Tokyo, skaters tell you what you can expect to see

American skateboarders Zion Wright, Jagger Eaton and Brighton Zeuner break down the differences between park and street skateboarding.

American skateboarders Zion Wright, Jagger Eaton and Brighton Zeuner break down the differences between park and street skateboarding.

Gui Khury just made skate boarding history at 12-years-old that even Tony Hawk couldn’t touch

Guy Khury just made skateboarding history by landing a 1080. He’s 12-years-old.

Tony Hawk is universally thought of as the greatest skateboarder of all time. He’s still out here hitting 720’s after all of these years of skating. So when you’re in the same sentence as him when it comes to shredding, you know you’re doing something right.

But when you’re out here shattering his records? You’re doing something extremely right. Because that means you’ve probably done something that no one else has done before.

That’s what happened with Guy Khury — a young skater from Brazil who absolutely destroyed the X Games.

Khury became the first skateboard to ever land  a1080 on a vert. He also became the youngest gold medalist in X Games history.

Oh, and he did it all at 12-years-old. While competing in the same contest as Tony Hawk. Look at how incredible this kid is.

And, of course, Tony Hawk was there to congratulate him after landing it.

Hawk made similar history in 1999 as the world’s first skater to land a 900 on a vert ramp at the X Games. But the thing about that was he was 31-years-old when he did it.

Again, Khury is 12.

This is just wild. Congrats to Khury and good on Hawk for being there to witness this. It’s just awesome stuff all-around.

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Breaking down the new and returning sports in the Tokyo Olympics, from baseball to sport climbing

MORE SPORTS!

The lineup for Summer Olympics this year in Tokyo is going to look a bit different compared with the Rio Games in 2016. Several new sports have been added and a couple are returning, and some existing sports have had new events added.

For the Tokyo Olympics, athletes will compete in 41 sports with 339 medal events, an increase this year thanks to the new events.

After a brief hiatus, baseball and softball are returning for the Tokyo Olympics, and surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing and freestyle BMX have been added to the mix.

Additionally, basketball is expanding with 3-on-3 matchups, and karate has been added to this year’s Games.

Here are a few more details about the new sports added to the Tokyo Olympics lineup…

MORE OLYMPICS: Meet some of the world’s best athletes ahead of the Summer Games

Zion Wright on newest Olympic sport and the culture of skateboarding

Sports Pulse: Zion Wright on skating, the Olympics and the future. He is one of many athletes with Red Bull as they launch Discover Your Wings, a series of dynamic augmented reality games.

Sports Pulse: Zion Wright on skating, the Olympics and the future. He is one of many athletes with Red Bull as they launch Discover Your Wings, a series of dynamic augmented reality games.

Tony Hawk is really still pulling off 720s at 52 years old

Wow, man. What?

Tony Hawk, back in 1999, shocked the world by pulling off the first ever 900 at the X Games. Just an absolutely incredible feat.

Now, here we are 21 years later and he’s still out here shredding half-pipes. Wait, quick correction. Not only is he out here shredding half-pipes. He’s still pulling off 720s at 52 years old. The man just does not stop.

The skateboarding legend posted a video of himself on Twitter pulling the trick out of his bag again. He said it was a battle and that it had been three years since he last pulled one off.

He hits this one and, honestly, it’s just so unreal. Take a look.

Warning: There is some NSFW language included in this video

Like, look man. We know LeBron James is a cyborg. But is Tony Hawk, too? Because you should not be able to get this much air at 52 years old. It just shouldn’t be possible.

Of course, he used to pull this one off in his sleep. Now, he has to get a little bit higher and his spin is slower. But still, this is nonetheless impressive. And it’s also all the proof we need to prove that Tony Hawk is a cyborg.

The downside is that Hawk doesn’t know how many more of these he has left in the tank. But the upside is he donating his board to charity to raise money for public skate parks.

Just truly the GOAT in every sense of the word.

Tony Hawk explains why he’s renaming an iconic skateboarding trick

Say hello to the “Weddle grab.”

For fans of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series — Nos. 1 and 2 will be remade for PS4, Xbox One and PC this fall — who are used to seeing the name of a move as the “mute grab,” it’ll be entirely different moniker.

And there’s a really, really good reason for that, which Hawk explained on Instagram this week.

He said that back in 1981, a skater named Chris Weddle who was deaf was the first to do a certain trick, an Indy air with the front hand. Skaters thought Weddle should have been given the credit.

“They referred to him as the ‘quiet, mute guy.’ So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth,” Hawk wrote.

It became “obvious” that the name should be changed since Weddle was hearing impaired and not non-verbal. So Hawk recently asked Weddle what he’d prefer, to which he said “deaf” or “Weddle.”

So “The Weddle Grab” will replace the original name in the upcoming Tony Hawk remakes. And Weddle was happy about it, as Hawk recounted:

View this post on Instagram

For nearly 40 years, we’ve shamelessly referred to this trick as the “mute” air/grab. Here is the backstory: around 1981, a deaf skater and Colton skatepark local named Chris Weddle was a prominent amateur on the competition circuit. The “Indy” air had just been created & named so somebody proposed that grabbing with the front hand should be known as the “Tracker” air. Others countered that Chris was the first to do, so it should be named after him. They referred to him as the “quiet, mute guy.” So it became known as the mute air, and we all went along with it in our naive youth. In recent years a few people have reached out to Chris (who still skates) about this trick and the name it was given. He has been very gracious in his response but it is obvious that a different name would have honored his legacy, as he is hearing impaired but not lacking speech. I asked him last year as I was diving into trick origins and he said he would have rather named it the “deaf” or “Weddle” grab if given the choice. His exact quote to me was “I am deaf, not mute.” So as we embark on the upcoming @tonyhawkthegame demo release, some of you might notice a trick name change: The Weddle Grab. It’s going to be challenging to break the habit of saying the old name but I think Chris deserves the recognition. Thanks to @darrick_delao for being a great advocate to the deaf community in action sports, and for being the catalyst in this renaming process. I told Chris tecently and his reply was “I’m so stoked!” And then he shot this photo in celebration yesterday. 📷: @yousta_storytellers_club

A post shared by Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) on

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