The history of skateboarding, from 1930 to 2022

1930: Children create scooters using a little wooden crate and a little piece of wood to make the handlebar. Little by little they remove the handlebar to use it only with their feet. And so skateboarding was born.

1950: If you've seen the film “Lords of Dogtown” the history is well presented. It's in 1950 that skateboarding really takes on its name, with the marketing of the first models of the “roll-surf” thanks to the invention from surfers who wanted to continue to train in the streets in order to have a semblance of surfing on a concrete surface.

1959: The brand Roller Derby sees the light of day and markets a completely revised model, especially with the design of the board.

1960-1970: Skateboarding arrives in France and skateparks start to be built in the US. The practise is democratised and millions of skateboards are sold across the world, magazines on the practise start to become known.

1963: First skateboarding advert in a surf magazine.

1966: Creation of the iconic brand Vans.

1972: Appearance of urethane wheels: the skater can ride faster and longer.

1973-1974: More than 20 skateparks are built in France.

1978: The legendary Alan Gelfand revolutionizes skateboarding by inventing the Ollie.

1980 to 1990: Skateboarding changes, names like Natas Kaupas or even Rodney Mullen revolutionize skateboarding by creating tricks such as flips. The usage of railings is democratised in the skateboarding field. Skaters are skateboarding in the streets more than in skateparks. 1981: The first volumes of Thrasher Magazine are published.

1992: Appearance of the switch by Salman Agah.

1999: Release of the legendary Tony Hawk’s Pro skater game which will then launch a series of video games. To finish 1999, Tony Hawk entered the first 900 ° in the world.

The history of skateboarding: From 2000 to the present day.

2004: Danny Way performs the longest ramp jump: 24 meters.

2007: Release of the video game EA Skate, more oriented towards simulation than Tony Hawks' Pro Skater. The second one is released in 2008 and the last one (Skate 3) in 2010. Many skaters (myself included) are still waiting for Skate 4.

2007 (yes again): Rob Dyrdek enters the longest boardslide in the world: 30.62 meters!

2008: Creation of the Battle of the Berrics, the skating game between pro skaters on YouTube. Zach Kral sets the record for the number of consecutive kickflips which is now 1546. And no, it's not a typo.

2009: Rob Dyrdek and Joe Ciaglia unveiled the most impressive skateboard in history. Dimensions: 11.14 meters long, 2.63 meters wide and 1.1 meters high, which is 12.5 x bigger than a classic skate!

2010: Creation of the Street League Skateboarding competition by Rob Dyrdek, the winner of the competition will cash in 100 000 $. It's without a doubt the biggest Skateboarding competition across the world where the best skaters go up against each other. The competition is renewed each year.

2011: One of the most striking records was broken which pushes the limits: the tallest ollie on flatground, by Aldrin Garcia with his 114 centimeters high!

2012: Thirteen-year-old Tom Schaar defeats Tony Hawk with the first 1080 ° in history on the board.

2016: Skateboarding has been accepted for the first time as a sport for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Aaron Homoki goes over the legendary gap of the 25 steps of Lyon.

2017: 143 kilometers per hour. It’s Kyle Westler’s world record for the fastest downhill in history. It was of course done on a longboard, but I thought it would be nice to show you that a skate can go faster than a car and have no fines and without consuming any resource.

2018: Back-to-back Ollie world record (308) by American Nicholas Drachman.

2021: First participation of skateboarding in the Olympic Games (postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The competition took place in two categories for each gender: park and street. The winners :

Men: Yuto Horigome (Street) and Keegan Palmer (Park)
Women: Momiji Nishiya (Street) and Sakura Yosozumi (Park)
2022: Jamie Griffin won the last edition of the battle at the berrics (BATB 12).

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