Local skateboarders thrilled skateboarding was added to 2020 Tokyo Olympics

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The sport of skateboarding will make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 games.

“It’s about time and I am excited about it to see just how to be able to know everybody else is able to witness skateboarding for what it is and it’s pretty cool,” Peter Buckner said.

Buckner has been skateboarding for more than 20 years and when he heard the International Olympic Committee made the decision to add skateboarding to its list of new sports for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he was thrilled.

“For a sport, we have so many multiple games that us skateboarders already play like the game of skate it’s like horse in basketball and there’s just so many venues to explore with it,” Buckner said.

According to the Tokyo 2020 website, skateboarding is an essential part of street culture as skateboarders ride on their board to perform tricks including jumps, flips, and mid-air spins.

The Olympics will feature both men and women’s park and street skateboarding.

“It takes all of that the physical ability and the exercise aspect and in addition to that it’s such a community subculture that’s different than other sports and that’s really what made it stand out for so long,” Greg Skolaski said.

Skolaski has also been skating since he was a teen and he said it’s been a long time coming but is thrilled to see skateboarding get the attention it deserves.

“It’s amazing, it’s about time they really recognize the sport as something the world recognizes as a viable sport just like anything else,” Skolaski said.

The men’s street competition kicks off on Saturday, July 24 (Eastern Time), then women’s street follows on July 25. The competition continues with women’s park on August 3, then ends with men’s park on August 4.

To watch skateboarding LIVE at the Tokyo Olympics, click here.