Shaun White celebrates on the podium next to second place Daniel Kass (L) and Finland's Markku Koski after winning the Men's snowboard Halfpipe final during the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics. Photo by Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images
In 2002, Carnie interviewed the spokeswoman of USA Roller Sports, Dinah Robins, and she told him: “We are the national governing body of all roller sports under the United States Olympic Committee. And technically skateboarding is a roller sport.” This rankled many in the skateboarding community. Carnie said that word of this attempted incursion by the roller sports spurred people involved in skateboarding to consider organizing. It wouldn’t be the first time they had dealt with exploitive forces. ESPN, the creator of the X-Games, financially exploited athletes while raking in millions in revenue. Some competitors only earned enough to cover their hotel bill for their stay during the X Games—a hard lesson for the skateboarding community.“Wouldn’t it be best, if it does go to the Olympics, that it’s run by skateboarders?”
A press conference on February 21, 2019 in Paris to announce that breakdancing, skateboarding, climbing and surfing had been invited to join the Games. Photo by Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty Images
My friend Joe Schloss, a professor of ethnomusicology and author of Foundation: B-boys, B-girls, and Hip Hop Culture in New York, noted in an email that today’s breakers have learned from how their elders were treated in the 1980s. Breaking briefly broke into the mainstream with a proliferation of films, and dancers, many just kids at the time, were often underpaid, and didn’t receive royalties or rights. “I do think that b-boys and b-girls are better positioned this time around to look after their needs and protect themselves,” he wrote.“It gives it a huge stage where people could probably start to pay attention.”
Breakdancers put on a show at Place de la concorde, which had been turned into a giant Olympic park ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, in June of 2019 in Paris. Photo by Baptiste Fernandez/Icon Sport via Getty Images
Mahina Maeda of Team Japan surfs during a practice session at Tsurigasaki Surfing Beach ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 22. Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images