Skateboarding, a street sport, will debut at the 2020 Olympics in Japan. However, there are some skateboarders who believe that skateboarding is not a "sport" and they do not want it exploited and transformed to fit into the Olympic program. They feel that it will change the face of skateboarding and its individuality and freedoms forever.
But for legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk, the inclusion will help the Olympics connect with a younger generation.
"I think it's long overdue and I think it's going to be great to see the new generation of skaters be recognized on that level and to have that sort of opportunity that generations past never got," Hawk told Alexandra Licata of Business Insider.
"At the same time, I don't think it's the end all to skateboarding's popularity or to skateboarding's journey. If anything, it's more that the Olympics needs this youth cool factor in their programming and they're going to get it with skateboarding in the summer games the way that they got it with snowboarding in the winter games."
Aside from skateboarding, the 2020 Games will welcome the additions of karate, surfing, and sport climbing. Baseball and softball will also return after being absent from the summer program since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
