On the occasion of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, a new exhibition opens its doors in early December at the foot of the Eiffel Tower: SPOT24. A collaboration between the tourist office Paris I love you and the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. The objective: to promote urban cultures, skateboarding, surfing and even freestyle BMX. Disciplines on the Games program, which have a special history.
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At the Olympic Games, there is skateboarding, but initially, like the other new so-called urban disciplines, it was not even a sport. It’s more of a way of life, born in the 1950s, in California, to surf outside the water, in the street. The first board is rudimentary, wood and four metal wheels. And then, quickly, in the gardens, the empty swimming pools become perfect playgrounds, and incidentally the first skate parks.
The first competition took place in 1963 in California, the birthplace of the discipline. Skateboarding isn’t just about having your feet on a board, it’s also about having a style of clothing, the right music in your playlist…
“Delirium between friends, today an Olympic sport”
And since 2021, it has been an Olympic discipline. It is this journey that SPOT24 retraces and celebrates. There, for example, we find a fresco of skateboards from all eras, and wooden furniture that recalls the elements of a skatepark.
Along with skateboarding, BMX freestyle enters the Tokyo Olympics, a discipline also born in the street in the 1970s. A practice which consists of performing figures and jumps on a small bike. In France, Alain Massabova is one of the pioneers: “ When BMX arrived, it was a delirium, a passion, an activity between friends, but it was not yet a sport. He then remembers his beginnings, full of troubles and resourcefulness: “We even had a dirt slide that served as a ramp. And today, it’s an Olympic sport! We really experienced the whole adventure, from start to finish, we succeeded!”
Rejuvenation strategy for the Olympics
A bet also for the Olympic Games, which are giving themselves a facelift with these urban sports. Besides, not everyone is delighted, because for some, these are disciplines without a competitive spirit, so no need to participate in the Olympics. “It is often said that the Olympics need skateboarding more than the other way around”explains Remy Walter, founder of Paris Skate Culture, “lCompetitions are not really popular in skateboarding, we have very big names who don’t participate in any of them!”
Others see entry into the Olympics as recognition. In any case, this new “Olympic” label creates some rather unexpected situations. With DJ decks on display at SPOT24; those of DJ Jo: “These are my famous turntables, which my mother bought me a long time ago (laughs)! I never thought it would come to this. I don’t realize it well. There, that’s me in the photo, it makes me very happy in any case. »
Breaking, urban dance, is the new kid at the Olympics, it is making its debut in Paris 2024. All his life, DJ Jo has accompanied his dancing friends with his turntables: “I actually danced myself before taking up music “. So, now that Breaking is at the Olympics, this sport brings with it all its hip-hop culture.