Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United States, skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2009 report found that the skateboarding market is worth an estimated $4.8 billion in annual revenue, with 11.08 million active skateboarders in the world. In 2016, it was announced that skateboarding would be represented at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, for both male and female teams.
Robert Dean Silva Burnquist is a Brazilian-American professional skateboarder who competed for Brazil throughout his career. In 2010, he became the first skateboarder to land a "fakie 900", making Burnquist the fifth person in history to successfully complete the 900 trick.
Anthony Frank Hawk, nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game series named after him, published by Activision that same year. Hawk retired from competing professionally in 2003 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential skateboarders of all time.
Steve Caballero is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a halfpipe. In 1999, Thrasher Magazine named Caballero the "Skater of the Century".
John Rodney Mullen is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered one of the most influential skateboarders of all time. Mullen is credited for inventing numerous tricks, including the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip. As a result, he has been called the "Godfather of modern freestyle skating."
The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc.. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moorad. As of early 2024, MSP Sports Capital has overseen four major X Games events as well as other related activations.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, released as Tony Hawk's Skateboarding in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe, is a 1999 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released for the PlayStation on September 29, 1999 and was later ported to the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, and N-Gage.
Christ Air is an aerial skateboarding trick where, while flying in the air, the skateboarder picks up their board into one of their hands and then spreads their arms and straightens their legs forming a pose that resembles Jesus Christ on the cross. It was invented by skater Christian Hosoi.
Charles Michael "Bucky" Lasek is an American professional skateboarder and rallycross driver.
Mike McGill is an American skateboarder who is best known for inventing the trick entitled the "McTwist", an inverted 540 degree mute grab aerial.
The 900 is a 2½-revolution aerial spin performed on a skateboard ramp. While airborne, the skateboarder makes two-and-a-half turns about their longitudinal axis, thereby facing down when coming down. It is considered one of skateboarding's most technically demanding tricks.
Lyndsey "Lyn-Z" Adams Hawkins Pastrana is an American professional skateboarder.
Nyjah Imani Huston is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS Super Crown World Championship in 2014, 2017 to 2019, and has won 12 gold medals at the X Games since 2011.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x is a skateboarding video game in the Tony Hawk's series. Developed in a collaboration between Neversoft and Treyarch, and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label, Pro Skater 2x is a re-release featuring the 19 levels from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Pro Skater 2, as well as five original levels. Some elements from the then-recently released Pro Skater 3 were included, along with other new features. It was released in North America for Xbox on November 15, 2001 as a launch title for the system.
Tasou Micah Pappas, better known as Tas Pappas, is an Australian sponsored skateboarder. He was previously a professional skateboarder, primarily in the discipline of vert skateboarding, and competed in a number of major international events. During the 1990s, he and brother Ben Pappas were highly regarded skateboarders on a global scale, reaching the top two places in the world rankings.
Vert skateboarding, short for vertical skateboarding, is the act of riding a skateboard on a skate ramp or other incline and involves the skateboarder transitioning from the horizontal plane to the vertical plane in order to perform skateboarding tricks.
The 1080 is a skateboarding trick that can be performed on a vertical skateboard ramp or on a mega ramp, in which the skateboarder makes three full revolutions while airborne. It was first completed successfully on a mega ramp in 2012 by American skateboarder Tom Schaar, and on a vert ramp in May 2020 by Brazilian skateboarder Gui Khury. The 1080 has only ever been landed after a fakie ollie, meaning the rider is in the normal stance, but rolling in the opposite direction, popping off of the tail.
Guilherme 'Gui' Khury is a Brazilian skateboarder. He is the first person to land a 1080 on a vertical ramp and the youngest person to win a gold medal at the X-Games.
Keegan Palmer is an Australian and American goofy-footed professional skateboarder specialising in park skating. He turned professional at the age of 14. In 2021, Palmer won gold medal during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in the park skateboarding competition.
Momiji Nishiya is a Japanese skateboarder. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won the first ever gold medal in the women's street competition. Winning at the age of 13, she is the youngest person ever to win a gold medal for Japan, and the third youngest after Marjorie Gestring and Klaus Zerta to ever win an event at the Summer Olympics.
