2020 Skateboarding Olympics Explained by Josh Friedberg & The Berrics

Shortly after hosting the Women’s Battle at The Berrics (WBATB), The Berrics is back this time with a spotlight on the upcoming 2020 Skateboarding Olympics in Tokyo. It’s the first time the sport will be included in the world sporting event, and The Berrics have taken the liberty of explaining just how exactly the competitions will be planned out in a short video.

“Skateboarding in its heart [is] an art,” says Jose Friedberg as he kicks off the video. Friedberg is the CEO of USA Skateboarding who played a major role in helping integrate the “culture-based sport into the Olympic world.” He starts off by explaining that if skaters want to qualify for the Olympics, they would first have to compete in world skate sanction events to earn points towards Olympic qualifications.

As opposed to many other sports in the Olympics, skateboarding qualifications will be based on a nominal system, which basically means every individual skater must qualify on their own terms, without the support of being selected by the country. Friedberg states that there are five ways to collect points: National, Continental and World Championships, Five-Star Events and Pro Tour Events, where the qualifying events started earlier this year in January, wrapping up with the last one taking place at the end of May in 2020. The events will tally up the best scores to determine who’s eligible to compete in the Olympics – a maximum of three eligible skaters per country.

Only a total of 20 skaters will be able to ride in the Olympics and amongst them, all five of the continental regions must be represented. One exception to qualifying, however, is when a skater makes into the top three at the 2020 World Championships — the person gets a spot in the Olympics regardless of his/her point score. Friedberg then lists out the formats of some of the events, like the “Street Format,” where the skater performs two runs and five tricks, as well as the “Park Format,” judging three 45-second runs.

All of these rules and quotas have been set in order to maximize inclusivity amongst the nations: “It’s invention and innovation, its culture and music and art and photography, but now we have this platform where we can actually share a lot of those things that makes skateboarding special with the world, and it will hopefully spark a new generation of kids to get involved. To give more people that opportunity is what’s really exciting to me.” Friedberg also expressed his optimism with the future of the sport, telling us that he’s seen “incredible progression” at competitions, especially for women, while confidently stating how “skateboarding is going to change the Olympics, not the other way around.”

Scroll above to see the short video from The Berrics.

Elsewhere, Kawhi Leonard has filed a trademark application for “What It Do Baby.”