Skateboarding is a risky sport, but at first, there were no rules or restrictions that were refined to meet safety requirements. The creator of skateboarding’s most hazardous techniques, like the 540 frontside rodeo flip and the ollie-to-indie, Tony Hawk recalled some horrifying incidents from his career.
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Tony Hawk was asked to discuss the risks of skateboarding on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, which the UFC color commentator hosts. One of the talking points was Jake Brown?s terrible skating accident during X Games 2007.
Jake Brown?s spectacular fall is etched in history
15 years after the incident, the fans of the sport have still struggled to understand how Brown walked away alive after a 45-foot free-fall. On that particular day in 2007, the Australian successfully executed the first 720 in a big air contest over a 55-foot gap before losing command of his board and slamming onto the wooden ramp.
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His head was beneath his back from whiplash, his shoes soared 50 feet, and the Staples Center audience was unnaturally quiet.
?I watched that?and I thought there?s no way this guy?s gonna live,? Rogan comments. To which Hawk says that it was really unbelievably lucky. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times in 2013, Brown admitted that the reward, exhilaration, and danger make the risk worthwhile. However, “with big air, it’s either go big or go home.”
Tony Hawk on the development of skateboarding safety?
According to the vert-skater, the safety guidelines of the sport were not as refined as compared to modern times during the incident. ?They didn?t have the proper protocols in place, they just let him walk off the ramp?it was nuts!? – said the athlete.
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In addition, he states, “That’s when they started to figure out how to do it in a way that is still progressive and not just throwing caution in the wind…that?s when they started to refine that event”.
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More importance was being given to the safety of the skaters and regulations were implemented to set realistic goals. Instead of trying to ?go to the moon? as the UFC athlete jokingly states, the organizers realized that it is better to stick to a certain height. In the podcast, the two stars speculate on the risk factors involved in shaping the careers of the sportsmen.
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