Paris — Skateboarding is one of four additional sports coming to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, yet skateboarders in Paris say they experience discrimination and have limited resources.
Benjamin Garcia, a professional skateboarder from Bordeaux, said he partners with Paris Skate Culture, the largest skate club in the city. Garcia said Paris needs a large skatepark, not only for the 2024 Olympic Games but for children in the area as well.
“You have to walk one hour to the North of Paris to Espace de Glisse,” Garcia said. “That is the biggest skatepark in Paris.”
Espace de Glisse Parisien is on the border of Paris and Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest area in France.
Skateboarding debuted in the 2020 Japan Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee approved a proposal for it to also be included in the 2024 games, according to the Paris 2024 website. Skateboarding, breakdancing, sport climbing and surfing are considered additional sports by the IOC as they are not included in the original 28 Olympic sports.
They are used to enhance the Olympics’ program and concept by setting a new standard for inclusivity and gender balance, according to the Paris 2024 website. All four sports are said to be associated with youth, creativity and athleticism, according to the IOC.
Garcia says he began practicing skateboarding at age 13. He first skateboarded competitively at age 16, he said.
Garcia is the 2018 European Skate Contest champion and 2017 World Cup of Skateboarding champion. He said he aims to compete in the 2024 games.
Garcia is on track for the games, ranked at number 54 on the Olympic World Skateboarding Rankings, he is one of five French male skateboarders listed.
If Garcia’s name is still on this list as of June 24, 2024, he will be eligible to compete in the five Olympic qualifying events: World Championship, Olympic Qualifying Series, Pro-Tour, Five Star Events and Three Star Events, according to the Olympics website.
Roger “Papsy,” a skateboarder from Meudon, a suburb Southwest of Paris, said that not all skateboarders aspire to reach the Olympics.
“There are three camps,” Papsy said. “You’ve got those who skate just for fun. You’ve got the underground skaters who think that skate is more [of] an underground culture. On the other side, you’ve got the one who loves competition.”
Papsy said skateparks are more common in his area than in the Capital city.
“I live in Meudon, and we got three beautiful [skate] parks,” Papsy said.
Skateboarding events will be on a ‘‘street-like’’ course mimicking the urban environments in which skateboarding originated, according to the Paris 2024 website.
Skateboarding events at the games will be in Place de la Concorde, the site of infamous guillotine executions during the Revolution, along with BMX freestyle, breaking and 3×3 basketball, according to the Paris 2024 website.
The Paris 2024 format for street skateboarding street will consist of two runs, 45 seconds each, followed by a series of tricks, the same format as Tokyo 2020.
The score for the athletes’ best run and best two tricks will be scored on a zero and 100 scale and combined for a final score between zero and 300, according to the Olympics website.
The Paris 2024 games will allow for a scoring refusal. Skateboarders will be permitted to have a trick disregarded if they wish to improve it. These refused attempts will count as zero points, according to the IOC.
Papsy said he believes that skateboarding becoming an Olympic sport will give it more respect and it will no longer be considered underground or alternative.
“With the Olympics, skate will be more mainstream than before,” Papsy said. “It’s a good window for this sport. Maybe there will be more parks in the country.”
There is currently a negative stigma around skateboarders, implying that they are unruly, Papsy said.
“People stare at me like ‘Stop that’ sometimes when I ride in the street,” Papsy said. “A lot of people think that we are just rebels.”
With the Paris Games over a year away, maybe there is still time for the culture to shift in favor of skateboarders.