CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Monday, May 31, 2021 | 19 SPORTS

OLYMPICS

he hotel door opens and, er side of the sport looks like. I look fast as that, the sound of at all the amazing people who try polyurethane clicking really hard to keep both factors in across concrete begins. Ready or not, skateboarding play.” TThe rhythmic grrrr-chk-chk-grrrr- The most successful athlete in the chk-chk-grrrr-chk-chk sound of current-day group is American wheels scooting over cracks in the Nyjah Huston, a 12-time X Games sidewalk is a telltale sign that some- and five-time world champion who, thing is different in Des Moines. in a sign of where the soul of this Skateboarders took over Middle soars onto the biggest stage sport has already moved, includes a America last week. It’s a dress shoe deal with Nike among his rehearsal for this summer, when cache of endorsements. they’ll bring their show to the rest of But will Games debut in Tokyo see the street sport lose its soul? “I never put much thought into it the world at the Olympics. being in the Olympics,” Huston said. The questions under the magnify- “I was always confused about why it ing glass at this week’s Dew Tour — wasn’t in there, but at least it’s in one of the last major qualifying there now, and I’m hyped for it.” events for the Tokyo Games in July There’s also Sky Brown, the — are whether the Olympics is ready 12-year-old competing for her for skateboarding and, more telling- father’s home country of Britain ly, whether skateboarding is ready who spent about half her time grow- for the Olympics. ing up in Japan, her mother’s native “That’s the beautiful thing about country and the place where all the skateboarding,” said Mariah Duran, action is happening this summer. a 24-year-old from Albuquerque, She also surfs and recently starred New Mexico, who is one of a handful in, and won, TV show Dancing With of US medal hopefuls. “It takes you The Stars: Juniors. places you’ve never been.” As mass marketable as it might More than 20 years after its win- be, skateboarding still has some tertime cousin, snowboarding, hurdles to climb. In Japan, skate- reluctantly took to the biggest stage boarding in broad daylight on a in sports, skateboarding is grinding busy street is still frowned upon. It’s its way into the much more crowded not all that much different in some summer program. It’s one of a num- places in the United States. ber of attempts by the International “We didn’t start out as hoodlums Olympic Committee — surfing, rock or bad guys, but we came up against climbing and 3-on-3 basketball are so much resistance and oppression,” also debuting in Tokyo — to appeal Vallely said. “It spurred two differ- to a younger, trendier, more easily ent things. We wanted to promote distracted audience. skating, but also, there was push- Whether any of this is truly “sav- back, and we weren’t afraid to say, ing” the Olympics for the next gen- ‘No, we’re not going take this.” eration is a matter of opinion. Josh Friedberg, the CEO of USA Viewership numbers — many pro- Skateboarding, dates some of this prietary, most skewed by the online attitude back to a Life Magazine cov- fragmentation of the audience and er in 1965 that featured a girls’ all of them open to manipulation to national champion doing a hand- tell whatever story might fit the nar- stand on a board, next to the head- rative — indicate the Games still line: “The craze and the menace of have issues with the in-demand skateboards.” 18-to-34 market. (That puts them in Thomas Schaar shows off his moves in the park event during an Olympic qualifier in Des Moines, Iowa on May 23. AP “It was immediately cast as some- good company: The NFL and MLB thing that’s not good, and that carried and pretty much anything aired on on in different iterations through TV are also doing worse in that dem- every decade,” Friedberg said. ographic over the past decade.) If the Olympics might be viewed Regardless of whether either side as offering some sort of mainstream enjoys a boost from this new part- seal of approval to a once-rebellious nership, suffice to say that none of it sport, what’s left to be seen is wheth- would’ve happened without the er the five rings will keep it fun or 1998 introduction of snowboarding suck the life out of it. Even two dec- to the Olympics. Despite its now- ades later, that is a debate they’re veteran status in the Games, the still having about the superpipe in so-called shredders still get treated snowboarding. like the shiny new thing on the shelf However their show plays in every four years. And while the Tokyo, skateboarders feel pretty entire sport has prospered over the good about their place in the sports two decades, snowboarding has world these days. delivered only two athletes the aver- Des Moines spent more than a age person might recognize on the decade trying to get America’s larg- street: Shaun White and Chloe Kim. est open skate park built. The venue But lots of folks just beneath that opened this week for the Dew Tour. level — Jamie Anderson, Red Ger- Jagger Eaton, pictured competing in Des Moines, is confident that Pamela Rosa rides the rails in the street event at the Olympic quali- Leaders in the sport think the Olym- ard, Danny Davis and others — have skateboarding’s Olympic inclusion will benefit the sport. AP fier in Des Moines on May 23. AP pics make it easier to build more like made very good livings, as well. All this in the future. of which has been enough to woo a “I never needed the Olympics to big chunk of skateboarding’s elite who helped call the action in Iowa. and fame fit into the overall ethos of “You look at snowboarding and and filming projects. And they’ve justify skateboarding for me,” Valle- into the Olympics without much “But once Shaun White started the “lifestyle” sport that snowboard- the way it is now, and I know they shown they can do both.” ly said. “But I sure get a lot of phone hand-wringing. having this great success, the kids ing wanted to be — a sport that val- love to compete,” said 20-year-old Dashawn Jordan, who is also aim- calls now. They see it’s in the Olym- “We’re like surfing or snowboard- coming up started seeing that as what ued fun and filming as much as Jagger Eaton, who is trying to quali- ing for Tokyo, reckons both sides of pics and they know I was involved in ing, in that the competitors were pret- is possible.” money and medals. Skateboarders fy in both the park and street events the sport can co-exist. “I was intro- all this. I feel like I did some good ty reluctant to join into something Another conversation that envel- deal with that issue, as well, and being showcased at the Games. “But duced to skateboarding through the work.” like that,” said one of skateboarding’s oped snowboarding back in the day some are just as good at threading they’ve also always loved being out competitive side,” he said. “And then forefathers, 50-year-old Mike Vallely, was whether competing for cash that needle. on the (backcountry), and going out I found out a lot about what the oth- agencies via xinhua soccer Pupil beats master as Tuchel outwits Guardiola again

PORTO, Portugal — Five months was one of Tuchel’s major tasks and and the Premier League. record scorer with cries of “super after being sacked by Paris Saint- the 21-year-old German came good Frank” in honor of Lampard’s part in Germain, Chelsea manager Thomas on the biggest club stage of all with Tactical battle getting the Blues into the top four Tuchel lifted the Champions League the only goal three minutes before Guardiola spoke glowingly ahead last season to qualify for this compe- as he got the better of Pep Guardiola halftime. of the game on how Tuchel’s switch tition, and then through the group once more to keep Manchester City The London club finished fourth to a 3-4-3 formation had trans- stages before his dismissal. waiting for European glory. in the Premier League, a huge 19 formed Chelsea’s season and denied But this was Tuchel’s triumph and A 1-0 victory in Porto rounded off points behind champion City, but City’s abundance of creative mid- he wants more. a roller-coaster year for the German, this, remarkably, was its third win fielders space between the lines in “Nobody wants to rest, I want the who was handed the chance to over Guardiola’s side in six weeks. their two previous meetings. next one, the next title,” he added. “I revive Chelsea’s fortunes less than a It ended City’s hopes of a domes- That allowed Tuchel to arguably want to be a part of it and I demand month after losing his job in Paris. tic treble when it triumphed in the win the tactical battle before a ball to be a part of it.” Chelsea was ninth in the Premier FA Cup semifinals in April and had even been kicked. City had to wait 13 years after League table at the time, with owner delayed its title celebrations with Often accused of overly tinkering being taken over by Abu Dhabi’s Roman Abramovich seeing little victory in Manchester. with his lineups when the pressure Sheikh Mansour just to get to the return on his 220-million-pound Now, in a final watched by a limit- is ramped up in the final stages of Champions League final. ($312-million) outlay on new play- ed crowd of just over 14,000 fans the Champions League, Guardiola’s It is now the eighth consecutive ers under Frank Lampard. who created a raucous atmosphere, bold call to start without a recog- team to lose in its first appearance at In fact, Tuchel had never met the it has denied City the first Champi- Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel celebrates after his side beat nized holding midfielder backfired. this stage. The same misfortune Russian billionaire in person until ons League crown the club and Manchester City in Saturday’s Champions League final. REUTERS Tuchel was dismissed by PSG befell Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Ger- they crossed paths on the pitch at Guardiola so crave. despite leading the French giant to main last year as well as Tottenham Estadio do Dragao as the wild cele- “It was an incredibly tough fight, its own first Champions League Hotspur when it was beaten by Liv- brations went on around them. what a fight. Today they were deter- inspired as Guardiola won 14 tro- said last week. “I was an academy final in August. erpool in the last all-English final in “Maybe I have a new contract now mined to win this. We wanted to be phies in four years at Barcelona coach and then in the Bundesliga That time he had to suffer the 2019. with that win,” said Tuchel, who was the stone in their shoe,” Tuchel told before joining him in Germany with Mainz, but I don’t think I pain of a 1-0 defeat to Bayern, but his “It is the first time we’re here, we’ll only handed an 18-month deal when BT Sport. where they battled for Bundesliga missed a game because there was so desire not to leave Portugal empty- learn, we’ll come back,” Guardiola he signed on at Stamford Bridge. “The effort was huge. We supremacy in charge of Borussia much to learn.” handed again was in evidence as he said. “I spoke to Roman just now and it overcame some difficult moments Dortmund and Bayern Munich Tuchel did not win any of the first prowled the touchline, constantly “The players did everything, they was the best moment for the first and had a fantastic attitude to respectively. five clashes between the pair during cajoling his players and whipping wanted to do well, to win this com- meeting, or maybe the worst defending.” During their first meeting, the two his time at Mainz and Dortmund up the Chelsea fans into a frenzy. petition, sometimes you perform moment. Maybe it can only get Unlike Guardiola, Tuchel did not soccer obsessives talked long into the against Guardiola’s dominant The traveling fans were among a well, sometimes not.” worse now!” have a glittering playing career. A night using glasses and salt and pep- Bayern side. 14,000-strong crowd that contribut- Chelsea also lost when it first got Kai Havertz was the most expen- series of knee injuries forced him to per shakers to mimic formations. But the pupil has now outfoxed ed hugely to the spectacle after to the final, on penalties against sive purchase of that summer retire at 25 and take up a job as a “I was such a huge admirer of Pep the master three times in the past almost a full season of European Manchester United in Moscow in splurge after his 71-million-pound waiter, while he began his coaching when he was a player and then six weeks as Chelsea completed a soccer behind closed doors. 2008. move from Bayer Leverkusen. career in the youth ranks of Stuttgart. when he became a coach it was like treble of victories over the English Chelsea supporters showed they Getting the best out of Havertz He watched from afar and was learning on the job for me,” Tuchel champion in their FA Cup semifinal have not forgotten the club’s all-time AFP