Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Olympic skateboarders compete in one of two disciplines: street or park. Street takes place on a straight course involving stairs and handrails, while park sees competitors navigate bowls and bends. In street, the move everyone is talking about is the ‘Yutornado’. Coined by Japan’s Yuto Horigome, who retained his Olympic title yesterday, the skater crouches, jumps and spins 270 degrees counterclockwise onto the rail, meeting it with the nose of the board. The skater slides down the rail, then spins off again another 270 degrees. In park, watch out for anything Arisa Trew does. The 14 year-old Australian was the first female skateboarder to land a 720 (two full mid-air rotations) and a 900 (two-and-a-half full rotations). Sadly this was in vert, a discipline that’s not yet in the Olympics. For now, organisers are keeping things lower to the ground.