How will Olympic selection affect surfing and skateboarding?

A battle for the soul of the culture — News that surf and skate will feature in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has divided the community. Is Olympic selection the death of a counterculture or a bright new dawn for surf and skate?

The father of modern surfing, Duke Kahanamoku, first declared his wish to see surfing in the Olympics at the 1912 Games in Stockholm. Over a century later, Duke’s dream has finally come true, as it was announced that surfing and its concrete offspring skateboarding will both feature in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

While this is a big win for the governing bodies, the International Surfing Association (ISA) and the International Skateboarding Federation (ISF), who have been pushing hardest for sports’ inclusion in the Olympics, it has divided surfers and skaters.

Will the expected influx of attention and money really nurture the cultures we love? What the contrasting reactions boil down to is a long-running battle over the soul of both sports – with many who cherish their counterculture roots disputing the competitive aspect and the idea of labelling them “sports” in the first place.

To get a sense of the strength of feeling on both sides of the aisle and look at both the positives and negatives of surfing and skating’s inclusion in the Olympics, we reached out to Will Harmon, editor of Free Skateboard Magazine, Sancho Rodriguez, founder of San Sebastián Surfilm Festibal, and Danni Gallacher, founder of Girls Skate UK.

“My personal opinion is that we don’t need the Olympics as much as they need us,” Danni explains. “Skateboarding is so much more than a set of rules and a points system, and although there are tonnes of competitions all over the world, competitiveness is not at the heart of skateboarding for most.”

Sancho echoes that for surfing culture: what motivates most people to hit the waves is not televised international competitions. His crew of rowdy Basque surfers are at the opposite end of the spectrum to competitive surfing, and they will carry on doing what they do, regardless.

“Of course it concerns me that surfing will become dominated by big corporate interests and that is likely to subvert the ideals of freedom and environmental stewardship that surfing is built on,” he explains. “But I don’t really have an issue with surfing becoming an Olympic sport.”

“I don’t care if in 2024, 2036 or 2050, it’s in an arena with 20,000 guys listening to the grandson of David Guetta DJing, eating futuristic artificial food from Monsanto – genetically modified popcorn,” he continues. “If there’ll be huge merchandising at stake and the grandson of media mogul Rupert Murdoch is behind it all, I don’t give a shit. If that’s the future, I don’t like it, it’s an absolutely dystopian future, but I don’t care.”

Poster_Surzilla_Surfilmfestibal14©MiguelBrieva

This year’s Surfilm Festibal used the character of Surfzilla to mock initial reports that Olympic surfing was likely to be carried out on artificial waves and sounded the alarm about early plans that indicate three natural wave breaks, Osaki, Kabune and Inamura, will be destroyed to make way for Olympic venues.

The IOC has declared competition will now occur on natural waves at Shidashita Beach in Chiba, just outside of Tokyo, but Sancho has seen nothing to alleviate his concerns about threatened waves.

“Right now I care about the very high risk of the Tokyo Olympics destroying one of the best waves in Japan [Inamura],” he says. “It’s a very worrying sign from the surfing community, the industry and sportspeople that they’re support this when a wave is going to be destroyed.”

The planet’s naturally surfable waves are finite and it’s necessary to fight to protect them, but there will always be space for street skating, somewhere. “Skateboarding in the Olympics won’t affect real skateboarders at all,” Will explains. “The worry is how will this change how the world views skateboarding, whether they see it as just this very regimented and controlled sporting event or understand that most skateboarding is non-competitive.”

As women’s and men’s sports now have equality at the Olympics, the biggest winners could be women surfers and skaters. “Even though I would rather skateboarding stay out of the games, I can’t help but be excited to see what the future holds for the girl’s scene,” Danni explains. “There is no doubt that the Olympics will bring more females into the ‘sport’ through media awareness, and the exposure of more relevant role models.”

 

A girl's skate session at House of Vans

A girls’ skate session at House of Vans

Despite huge growth in recent years, women’s surfing and skating has always lagged behind the men’s, but the Olympics could unlock a huge amount of funding to help bridge the gap. News that skateboarding could be featured in the Olympics has already seen brands like Nike invest in sponsoring a number of women skateboarders.

Many countries, like the US, only fund sports that are part of the Olympic programme, so going forward, women surfers and skaters will be able to access financial support for high-performance training programs and facilities.

But Will sees a risk that this increased cashflow could suck the heat away from non-competitive, more creative forms of skateboarding. “Sponsorship today is based on coverage through video parts, social media and magazines, for example,” Will explains. “But as interest in competitive skating grows, skaters are increasingly worried they won’t get sponsored if they don’t compete or be put under pressure to skate in the Olympics.”

As always, it’s which way the money flows that will dictate the effect it has on the culture. “There is no doubt that more money will be thrown into skateboarding, with more parks and ‘training facilities’ popping up over the world,” Danni says. “But I’m unconvinced that this money will actually go back into the scene we’ve worked so hard to make our own.”

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.


Ad

Latest on Huck

Crowd of silhouetted people at a nighttime event with colourful lighting and a bright spotlight on stage.
Music

Clubbing is good for your health, according to neuroscientists

We Become One — A new documentary explores the positive effects that dance music and shared musical experiences can have on the human brain.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

Indoor skate park with ramps, riders, and abstract architectural elements in blue, white, and black tones.
Sport

In England’s rural north, skateboarding is femme

Zine scene — A new project from visual artist Juliet Klottrup, ‘Skate Like a Lass’, spotlights the FLINTA+ collectives who are redefining what it means to be a skater.

Written by: Zahra Onsori

Black-and-white image of two men in suits, with the text "EVERYTHING IS COMPUTER" in large bright yellow letters overlaying the image.
Culture

Donald Trump says that “everything is computer” – does he have a point?

Huck’s March dispatch — As AI creeps increasingly into our daily lives and our attention spans are lost to social media content, newsletter columnist Emma Garland unpicks the US President’s eyebrow-raising turn of phrase at a White House car show.

Written by: Emma Garland

A group of people, likely children, sitting around a table surrounded by various comic books, magazines, and plates of food.
© Michael Jang
Culture

How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography

The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Silhouette of person on horseback against orange sunset sky, with electricity pylon in foreground.
Culture

The inner-city riding club serving Newcastle’s youth

Stepney Western — Harry Lawson’s new experimental documentary sets up a Western film in the English North East, by focusing on a stables that also functions as a charity for disadvantaged young people.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Couple sitting on ground in book-filled environment
Culture

The British intimacy of ‘the afters’

Not Going Home — In 1998, photographer Mischa Haller travelled to nightclubs just as their doors were shutting and dancers streamed out onto the streets, capturing the country’s partying youth in the early morning haze.

Written by: Ella Glossop

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to stay informed from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, with personal takes on the state of media and pop culture in your inbox every month from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...

Accessibility Settings

Text

Applies the Open Dyslexic font, designed to improve readability for individuals with dyslexia.

Applies a more readable font throughout the website, improving readability.

Underlines links throughout the website, making them easier to distinguish.

Adjusts the font size for improved readability.

Visuals

Reduces animations and disables autoplaying videos across the website, reducing distractions and improving focus.

Reduces the colour saturation throughout the website to create a more soothing visual experience.

Increases the contrast of elements on the website, making text and interface elements easier to distinguish.