Top 10 Street Skaters (According to the World Skateboarding Federation)

The World Skateboarding Federation are the main crew who are pushing for skateboarding to enter the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Apparently, in order to be recognised as an Olympic sport, you need to have an official world ranking system. Skateboarding obviously doesn’t have that…until now, it seems.

The ranking system only takes into account skaters involved in competitions, so really it’s the top 10 competitive street skaters. So you won’t see the likes of Chris Joslin on the list. Here it is…and it’s pretty interesting.

1. Luan Oliviera
2. Felipe Gustavo
3. Ishod Wair
4. Nyjah Huston
5. Shane O’Neill
6. Danny Leon
7. Chaz Ortiz
8. Kelvin Hoefler
9. Igor Golubev
10. Evan Smith

I’d consider myself to be pretty “in the loop” when it comes to skateboarding, but I’ve literally never heard of Igor Golubev…and I think I know of Danny Leon, but I can’t picture him in my head. Obviously both have been doing well on the European circuit, which this rankings system takes into account. The fact that Europe’s best compete in North America probably helps the cause of guys like Igor and Danny, since they aren’t up against the world’s best. Nyjah also comes in 4th…can’t imagine he’s too pleased with that. Haha.

Anyway, worth a laugh or a comment I thought. There’s no real way to do this until they do a WSL-style world tour, which will probably happen sooner rather than later. You can read the WSF’s entire ranking here, going all the way down to 175th.

What do you guys think, though? Is skateboarding really going to feature at Tokyo 2020?

Snowboarding did it and now skateboarding is heading to a land of no soul. I don’t know why any one would be pushing for this in the first place? It doesn’t get you any thing but a gold medal for your country and really I don’t think many pro skateboarders would really care for it.

I bet Nyjah’s at the helm of this crap trying to get even more money and more ego points. I’m all for skateboarders making money but you can do that already with X-Games, Street League and that’s just USA. Once you hit up Europe you open even more opportunities.

Who will be judging the competitions? Scooter kids?

I can’t imagine the rules and regulations that the Olympic committee applies to you with all the drug testing, training and qualifications working on skateboarders. What’s Red Bull going to do with their sponsored skaters not being able to wear the branded hats?

I think Tony Hawk summed it up best when he said that the Olympics needs skateboarding—not the other way around.

The main drawcard for skaters is obviously the money and fame. I mean, if not for the Olympics, would the average Aussie know who Torah Bright is? When you become a big name like Torah or Shaun White, companies want to invest in you. Imagine someone like Nyjah or Shecks, who are already earning a decent buck, if they suddenly became American heroes of sorts. I think there’s some incentive there for the skaters for sure.

It quite literally goes against everything that skateboarding has always stood for, of course, which is obviously the main concern among skaters (including me). But there’s a couple of major positive points:

- Funding. Imagine the added funding when suddenly skateboarders are training as Olympic athletes. I can only imagine it would be significantly more than it currently is. The facilities we’d get would be unbelievable.

- Image. This one goes either way. Skateboarders, if they were suddenly viewed by the mass public as athletes, would be seen in a more positive light. That has its benefits. Although I can understand some people not wanting to be labelled an athlete for skateboarding, because it’s counter-intuitive, although probably correct.

But, as Tony alluded to, the Olympics would probably be the big winners. X Games and Street League have proved to be vastly more popular than either were first expected to be. Imagine the extra viewership and money the Olympics could make with hosting extreme sports at a “proper” worldwide competitive event . Heck, imagine the Winter Games without snowboarding or skiing—what sports would there be? What would anyone watch?

I think skateboarding would instantly be the most popular Olympic sport in the 18-25 age bracket. I can only assume the Olympics are chasing that bracket, so I’d be shocked if we don’t see skateboarding make an appearance at Tokyo in 5 years time. I don’t think it can be stopped—it’s too popular. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

At the very least, it’ll be fun to watch. Watching Shane O’Neill atop a podium, dressed in an Aussie flag with his monotonous stare to the tune of Advance Australia Fair sounds like golden viewing. I guess I’m trying to say that, as damaging as it would be to the culture of skateboarding, I’m happy to embrace the fact that it’s one of the world’s most popular growing sports. If that means the Olympics happen…bring it on.

I think Tony Hawk summed it up best when he said that the Olympics needs skateboarding—not the other way around.

The main draw card for skaters is obviously the money and fame. I mean, if not for the Olympics, would the average Aussie know who Torah Bright is? When you become a big name like Torah or Shaun White, companies want to invest in you. Imagine someone like Nyjah or Shecks, who are already earning a decent buck, if they suddenly became American heroes of sorts. I think there’s some incentive there for the skaters for sure.

I don’t think it’s Torah’s fault or her team for Australia not knowing who she is. Australia has stuff all snow and a small weekend industry for snowboarding. Look what Shaun White has done for the industry? I would say really fuck all because he is self invested. If snowboarding died tomorrow would he come out and lose his money and fame to rebuild it? There is a big incentive for skateboarders to become role models as long as Andy Roy is there i’m down

It quite literally goes against everything that skateboarding has always stood for, of course, which is obviously the main concern among skaters (including me). But there’s a couple of major positive points:

- Funding. Imagine the added funding when suddenly skateboarders are training as Olympic athletes. I can only imagine it would be significantly more than it currently is. The facilities we’d get would be unbelievable.

- Image. This one goes either way. Skateboarders, if they were suddenly viewed by the mass public as athletes, would be seen in a more positive light. That has its benefits. Although I can understand some people not wanting to be labelled an athlete for skateboarding, because it’s counter-intuitive, although probably correct.

Funding would be great for skateboarding but it has to go directly back in to the sport. Facilities = win. Why do we need the public to love us? This is ours not theirs.

But, as Tony alluded to, the Olympics would probably be the big winners. X Games and Street League have proved to be vastly more popular than either were first expected to be. Imagine the extra viewership and money the Olympics could make with hosting extreme sports at a “proper” worldwide competitive event . Heck, imagine the Winter Games without snowboarding or skiing—what sports would there be? What would anyone watch?

 

I can’t agree more with Tony the Olympics is drab as hell except for maybe Usain Bolt. The problem you have is the Olympics hosting is the Olympics controlling. Anything which heads in to a large format loses it’s soul, look at surfing there is no comradery at all, it’s a bunch of selfish dudes. Imagine Death Wish making pencil cases for the kids to take to school.

I think skateboarding would instantly be the most popular Olympic sport in the 18-25 age bracket. I can only assume the Olympics are chasing that bracket, so I’d be shocked if we don’t see skateboarding make an appearance at Tokyo in 5 years time. I don’t think it can be stopped—it’s too popular. It’s going to happen sooner or later.

At the very least, it’ll be fun to watch. Watching Shane O’Neill atop a podium, dressed in an Aussie flag with his monotonous stare to the tune of Advance Australia Fair sounds like golden viewing. I guess I’m trying to say that, as damaging as it would be to the culture of skateboarding, I’m happy to embrace the fact that it’s one of the world’s most popular growing sports. If that means the Olympics happen…bring it on.

 

I recently watched an interview with Lizard King and Erik Ellington explaining how skateboarding is now a weekend sport. Kid’s can pick it up and drop it again with out thinking too much about the culture.

I have a traditional approach I suppose but I think skateboarding gives a lot to kids who come from struggling backgrounds, much like myself. It gives you a place, purpose and a outlet. Once you lose the roots in any sport it becomes about big paychecks and tweets.