Skateboarding Facts and Trivia (2026)

15 Skateboarding Facts

1. Surf roots: Skateboarding is generally traced to California surfers in the late 1940s or early 1950s, which is why it was nicknamed "sidewalk surfing."
2. First magazine: The Quarterly Skateboarder was published in 1964.
3. On TV early: The National Skateboarding Championships aired on ABC in 1965.
4. Magazine cover star: Skater Patti McGee appeared on the cover of Life in 1965.
5. Booms and busts: Skateboarding's popularity crashed in the mid-1960s and again in the early 1980s before bouncing back.
6. Wheels changed everything: Frank Nasworthy's polyurethane wheels, released in 1972, made boards far smoother and grippier.
7. The ollie: Alan Gelfand is credited with inventing it in 1976.
8. Flatground ollie: Rodney Mullen adapted the ollie to flat ground in 1982.
9. Pool skating: Empty backyard pools during California's 1976 drought helped shape transition skating.
10. Banned: Norway banned skateboards from 1978 to 1989.
11. Go Skateboarding Day: Founded in 2003 and held on June 21.
12. The 1080: Tom Schaar was the first to land a 1080, in 2012.
13. Olympic debut: Skateboarding debuted at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021, with park and street events.
14. Young medalists: Several Olympic skateboarding medalists have been teenagers, including Japan's Momiji Nishiya, who won women's street gold at Tokyo 2020.
15. Back-to-back gold: Japan's Yuto Horigome won men's street gold at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, and Australia's Keegan Palmer won men's park gold at both.

More Facts and Trivia

• Where "ollie" comes from: the trick is named after its inventor, Alan "Ollie" Gelfand.
• More skaters than baseball players: by 2001, more Americans under 18 rode skateboards (10.6 million) than played baseball (8.2 million).
• Norway's workaround: during Norway's ban, skaters built ramps in forests and other secluded spots.
• A record deck sale: in 2019, Sotheby's sold a full set of 248 Supreme skateboard decks for $800,000.
• Huge skateparks: SMP Skatepark in Shanghai, China, covers about 12,000 square meters.
• The Mega Ramp: Danny Way's Mega Ramp, built with DC Shoes, helped launch "big air" skateboarding.
• Downhill speed: top downhill racers commonly reach around 60 mph, and the fastest recorded speeds exceed 90 mph.
• On screen: Tony Hawk has said many pros started skating after seeing Back to the Future, and the Tony Hawk and Skate video game series introduced skating to millions.
• Olympic future: skateboarding is scheduled for the LA 2028 Olympics.

Facts at a Glance

Board Facts

• Most decks are made from seven plies of maple.
• A skateboard has eight bearings, two per wheel.
• Wheel hardness is measured on the durometer scale.

Learn more in skateboard anatomy, skateboarding history and Olympic skateboarding.

Frequently Asked Questions