Skateboarding: how China built team ahead of 2020 Summer Olympics – and why the sport is good for you
- Skateboarding will feature in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and China has founded a national team and set up training corps around the country
- We talk to national team member Liu Jiaming and Beijing skate park owner Yang Zi about the rise in the sport’s popularity in the country
For five hours a day, 22-year-old Liu Jiaming rides a short, narrow board with two small wheels attached at either end, and performs a series of tricks including jumps, flips and mid-air spins.
The native of Hubei province in central China was selected to join the newly established national skateboard team after winning a national championship in April in northern Henan province.
China’s General Administration of Sport and the Chinese Roller Sports Association had co-organised the event to find the top performers among the 132 athletes from around China who took part. The national team has 12 athletes, six men and six women, who train at its headquarters in Nanjing, eastern China.
Liu, who has been skateboarding half of his life, became a full-time professional at the age of 15. He was the first runner- up in the street section, held on a straight course resembling a street, with handrails, kerbs, benches, walls and slopes. Each competitor uses these features to demonstrate a range of skills. Judging takes into account such factors as the degree of difficulty of the tricks, height, speed, originality, execution and the composition of moves.
“I never underwent systematic training before joining the national team. I am a street skateboarder. I had lived in Shenzhen [bordering Hong Kong] throughout my childhood and adolescence. I asked the skateboarders in Luohu and Futian to teach me the skills,” Liu says.
He quit school after completing junior secondary to pursue a professional skateboarding career.