The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are around the corner and, as I’ve mentioned in my past blogs, skateboarding is going to be the newest event included. As a repeat contender, the USA will obviously participate in the skating events, which sparked my curiosity about the USA team and whole olympic skating process. So, after doing some research, I’ve compiled a small list of the best sources I could find and hope to educate someone unfamiliar with the new event and the USA skate team on some of the best information.
This is a great interview from The Berrics‘ YouTube channel with Josh Friedberg, CEO of USA skateboarding(the national governing body for skateboarding in the US), that explains a little bit of history behind skateboarding itself, and then goes into great detail about skateboarding as an event in the upcoming Olympic games. This piece is a great starting point for understanding USA skating and the rules of the events coming up since Josh is a key member in making it happen.
Source: The Berrics YouTube Channel youtube.com/user/theberrics
“The quotas are set up so that no more than 3 people from any one country in any event can compete…“ –Josh Friedberg discussing the rules of skateboarding in the 2020 Olympics
This is a page from the World Skate Organization giving a detailed outline of how skaters can qualify for the upcoming Olympics, as well as the process of qualifications. This is solid source of information since it’s coming from the organization creating the rules for the skating events, and is a great learning tool for someone unfamiliar with how qualifications work and want to know the detailed steps.
Source: worldskate.org
“The Women’s Park and Street events and Men’s Park and Street events will each be comprised of exactly 20 athletes: the three (3) highest placed in the 2020 Season World Skate World Skateboarding Championship events will be directly qualified. Sixteen (16) will be qualified through the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings (OWSR) and one (1) Host Country place will be allocated to the highest ranked Host Country skateboarders in each event.” – World Skate Qualification Pathway, Section D.
Here’s a great article by Stu Gomez on The Berrics webstie, introducing the 2020 Olympic Men’s and Women’s park and street team, so that people can get familiar with the talented folks who they might see competing on the big screen. It’s a great starting point for someone to learn names of skaters competing on the USA team, and possibly spark interest into learning more about these athletes.
Source: theberrics.com
” Josh Friedberg, USA Skateboarding’s CEO, was on the mic introducing 16 skaters who will make history at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.” – Stu Gomez
By: Dave Carnie
This is a pretty interesting article by Dave Carnie for Transworld Skateboarding showing some of the designs being created for the 2020 Olympic skate uniforms, including the US, as well as a little backstory behind the inspiration and the rules and regulations of Olympic uniforms. This is a very informative article for anybody wanting to learn more about how skating in the Olympics will look and why.
Source: skateboarding.transworld.net
“It should also be noted that Olympic skaters are allowed to wear their own shoes and ride their own equipment (boards, trucks, wheels, etc.) at all times and the Nike apparel is only mandatory during Olympic events.” – Dave Carnie
- “Skateboarders wonder whether the Olympics will change sport’s renegade image” By: Rick Maese
This last article is interesting because, in my opinion, it gives a very unbiased view on how skating in the Olympics may be affecting skateboarding culture. Rick Maese for the Washington Post gets many perspectives from pros in the skating community about how the culture might change due to the Olympics, some good thoughts and some…. not so good. This may not be teaching more about the technical aspects of skating in the Olympics, but I found it to be an interesting perspective to report on, and those who may not know skating may not even realize this type of backlash could be caused by the Olympics.
Source: washingtonpost.com
“The International Olympic Committee, desperate for a younger audience, saw an opportunity to inject something fresh into its summer lineup, a decision that was embraced by some skaters but cursed by others. What they mostly agree on: Good or bad, the new platform could bring big changes to the sport.“ – Rick Maese
Media Consumption Pt. 2:
After another week of exploring the Internet looking for credible and valuable sources to use in this weeks blog, I thought back on my previous post about my media consumption and if anything is different or has changed. To my surprise, I’ve actually changed my behaviors a bit since I first started writing this blog, even though it doesn’t really feel like it. I’ve noticed that I’ve been heading to The Washington Post more often than I used to, but that seems like the only new site I’ve consistently visited this past week looking for a good story.
A change in behavior that I have also noticed is that I’m using social media less to find specific topics of interest or sources to research. This week I was using google a lot more to search a topic, visit multiple websites speaking on that topic, read and determine what I thought was relevant, and then research the source to decide if it was trustworthy or not. Before, I would most likely just visit websites or research people that I had already known about, but now it seems that I’m able to pick out important bits of information from multiple credible sources. I hope to keep my media consumption open to different perspectives, and from what I’ve noticed since the start of this blog, I’ve been slowly working toward that.
