By Rory Carroll and Mimosa Spencer
PARIS (Reuters) – Skateboarders competing at the Paris Olympics said music fuels their performances and that they see their sport as being as much about self-expression as it is about competition.
American Bryce Wettstein, looking relaxed as she strummed her ukulele and mingled with fans before competing in the women’s park final, said there is “music in skateboarding.
“The musicality of not knowing if something’s going to be the way it is, and then it turns out better,” she told Reuters.
“Writing a song is like choreographing a skate run. When I play music before I skate, I always feel a lot more in tune. The ukulele is getting me in tune.”
Known for her improvisational approach to the sport, 20-year-old Wettstein took a moment to think when asked what genre of music her skateboarding would fall under.
“Well, everyone says jazz,” she said. “But I’d say probably a frenzy pop with a little bit of classical and just a humming.”
Britain’s 16-year-old Sky Brown, who won her second consecutive Olympic bronze medal in the park discipline on Tuesday, favours an energetic soundtrack.
“When I skate I like rap, Rihanna, something to just hype me up,” she said.
Finland’s Heili Sirvio, 13, said she is a fan of “girly music” and said that art and skateboarding are intertwined.
“It feel it’s mainly like dancing,” she said.
Listening to music – loud music – is key to her enjoyment of the sport.
“My friends and I have this crazy thing. When we’re skating we listen to music so loud that it kind of hurts our ears,” she said. “But it makes us skate better. I always love doing that.”
Ruby Trew, the 15-year-old Australian known as “Rockstar Ruby”, who is no relation to Tuesday’s champion Arisa Trew, 14, said she uses musical rhythms to guide her on the board.
“Sometimes when I’m trying to learn tricks I think of music and try and do it on the beat,” she said.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Paris; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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