From the streets to the Olympics, skateboarding should be seen!

Review expert: Peng Guoqiu, deputy chief physician of the Fourth Medical Center of the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army

At the early morning of June 22, Beijing time, the skateboarding event of the 2024 Olympic Qualification Series Budapest Station ended the competition for women's street preliminaries. Three Chinese "little flowers" Zhu Yuanling, Cui Chenxi, and Zeng Wenhui joined hands to enter the semifinals, ensuring that the three of them locked in the qualification for the Paris Olympic Games in advance. In addition, at the early morning of June 24, Beijing time, the Budapest Station of the Paris Olympic Qualification Series ended. In the women's bowl pool event of skateboarding, Chinese player Zheng Haohao won an Olympic seat, winning an Olympic seat for the Chinese team.

Zheng Haohao won the Olympic Games spot Source: Olympic Qualifying Tournament Official Website

Skateboarding has officially become an Olympic sport. So, how much do you know about skateboarding? Do you know the origin of skateboarding? How did it get here? Next, let's enter the world of skateboarding.

The origin of PAPT.01 skateboard

Skateboarding is a young and highly entertaining sport that began in the 1950s.

Skateboarding originated in California in the 1950s, when surfers were looking for new ways to entertain themselves on calm days, and the concept of "land surfing" came into being. They tried to fix the wheels of roller skates on surfboards, which later became a symbol of street culture in the 1980s. By the beginning of the 21st century, skateboarding became popular on a large scale and was deeply loved by young people.

Players are participating in a skateboarding competition Source: Xinhua News Agency

Skateboarding made its debut on the Olympic stage at the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. In 2020, the International Olympic Committee agreed to list skateboarding as an official event for the 2024 Paris Olympics. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, athletes will compete in the two most popular and exciting events in skateboarding - bowl skateboarding and street skateboarding. Athletes must perform the most beautiful fancy moves based on standards such as technology, speed and fancy range.

PAPT.02 Pool and Street Skateboards

Although both are skateboarding sports, the two events are very different.

How is the track different?

The bowl competition is held on a bowl-shaped track with several different types of obstacles, such as ramps, halfpipes and pump tracks, so that the contestants can gain speed and momentum on the track and finally perform tricks in the air. The bowl competition includes two stages: preliminaries and finals.

The street race requires the contestants to compete on a track that simulates an urban environment. The competition venue is like a miniature street, with roadblocks, steps, curbs and handrails everywhere, and the contestants can freely express their creativity. It is also divided into two stages: the preliminaries and the finals.

What is the difference between tricks and fancy moves?

Although the two events have different tracks, many of the techniques are the same, including grinding (the contestants use the metal on the side of the wheels to slide) and sliding (using the board to perform actions). However, since the venues are different, the technical movements are also different.

One of the highlights of the bowl pool competition is the dazzling aerial skills. The contestants use the slope of the venue to gain kinetic energy and speed, then take off into the air and perform various fancy moves in the air, combining flips, turns, grabs, aerial poses and other elements, which are dazzling.

In contrast, the street competition tests the contestants' ability to deal with obstacles. They need to make full use of the grinding and swiping boards, and show various dolphin jumping techniques - taking the board into the air without holding the board with both hands. With the help of dolphin jumping, contestants can jump onto railings or steps and perform grinding or swiping technical moves on obstacles. In the competition, contestants also need to combine various moves to increase the difficulty and originality of the performance.

After reading this, do you have a preliminary understanding of skateboarding competitions? As an ordinary person, can you also participate in the sport of skateboarding? What effects will skateboarding bring to our bodies? Read on!

PAPT.03 Skateboard: More Than Just “Skating”

Aerobic exercise is good for your body

Aerobic exercise is an important and necessary part of any workout regimen. By definition, cardiovascular exercise is any type of exercise that increases your heart rate to improve the flow of oxygen throughout your body.

Skateboarding can be a moderate to vigorous cardiovascular exercise, depending on how hard you practice it. Compared to other cardiovascular exercises, such as running, recreational skateboarding is low-impact on the joints.

Increased flexibility

Flexibility is an often overlooked and underestimated aspect of physical fitness. While it may be associated with your participation in activities such as dance, gymnastics, and yoga, flexibility allows your body to become more supple while increasing strength and stability. Increasing your flexibility skateboarding helps promote flexibility in your core and legs, as skateboarding requires a certain amount of flexibility and ankle mobility. Moves such as heel flips and kick flips increase blood flow to the muscles, warming them up, which helps improve flexibility.

Improve balance and coordination

Balance is probably one of the most obvious fitness aspects of skateboarding. You can't skate without proper balance, and controlling your core muscles is key to finding balance. Your core muscles include your abdominal muscles, trapezius muscles, and lower back muscles.

Improve coordination

Coordination is the ability to control different parts of the body to perform certain movements smoothly and efficiently. Skateboarding requires the use of most of the muscles in your body. When you are on a skateboard, your large and small muscles will work together, and your eyes will process visual information to help you "output moves" while moving.

Full body workout

You might think that skateboarding only works your legs, but you use more muscles than you think when you skateboard. You might focus more on your legs because you use them to push off the ground and tap the board, but you might forget that you also use your arms to keep your balance. Skateboarding also involves a lot of twisting movements, which will work your abdominal muscles and other core muscle groups.

From this, it can be seen that skateboarding is really a sport that requires the participation of muscles throughout the body. In particular, when you wipe the sweat from your forehead, you will feel more deeply that this sport brings not only the pleasure of sweating profusely, but also the freedom of leaving worries behind and moving forward.

Moreover, as skateboarding was included in the Olympic Games, it went from being a street sport to an international arena, and skateboarding has established its own position.

Don't hesitate! Let's slide!