While you might have heard rumblings about breakdancing (or ‘breaking’ to the informed) being included in the 2024 Olympics, skateboarding and surfing have already been greenlit for the 2020 Tokyo games.
One of the fresh-faced competitors in the Aussie skateboarding team is Poppy Starr Olsen, an 18-year-old prodigy who first started grinding pavement (what do you want from me I don’t know skateboarding lingo) back when she was just eight years old.
On the latest ep of our PEDESTRIAN.TV X Platypus Shoes poddy, Sneak Up, host Jack Colquhoun chatted to the Olympics hopeful about the future of skating now that it’s lept onto the most competitive world stage in sport.
“Skateboarding, and surfing too, both being included in the 2020 games is pretty crazy I guess because they are really both a lifestyle…it’s not all about points on a board,” Poppy explains.
“It’s definitely really interesting to see how it’s going to pan out, but I think people are really going to love it and I’m really excited to see how it goes.”
Poppy admits that there has been pushback from skateboarding purists (my words, not hers) who fear that the sport will lose its heart, but is quick to remind us that people will continue to skate for the right reasons.
“People are always going to have their views on it, but I think, like I said before, if you just remember why you started, you shouldn’t let anything else affect you. Just keep doing what you’re doing and having fun and I think that’s the way to go.”
The young gun, who had already travelled to more countries at the ripe old age of 11 than I have in my lifetime, also points out that the Olympics have ensured they’re taking a huge leap towards progress.
“Another really awesome aspect of it, is that with all these skateboarding events that they’ve included into the Olympics, they’ve had to equalise the prize purse for women as well. So that was definitely a struggle before the Olympics, but now all these competitions are starting to equalise prize money…so for all the girls that want to pursue that path, it’s been really great.”
After listening to Poppy discuss her relationship with skating, training for the Olympics, meeting Tony Hawk for the first time and just how she funded her trips overseas to compete (it’s a very cute story), make sure you check out the rest of our Sneak Up eps on Spotify and Apple.
Or, you know, wherever it is you listen to your material.
I don’t judge.
