After Brazil’s Olympic skateboarding success, Rio’s skateparks are renovated

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the visibility that skateboarding gained in Tokyo 2020, young Rio de Janeiro residents are dreaming of becoming the next Kelvin Hoefler, Pedro Barros and “Fadinha” Rayssa Leal, who won silver medals in the discipline’s debut as an Olympic sport.

The Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas tracks are very popular for the sport in Rio and, given the demand for improvements by skateboarders, they were revamped last Sunday, August 8.

A joint effort by the City in partnership with the Rio de Janeiro State Skateboarding Federation (FASERJ) and the Rio Skateboarding Association, conducted structural repairs on the tracks’ pavement and protective handrails.

In the street type track, one of “Fadinha’s” specialty events, new obstacles were installed and the surrounding benches were restored. A granolithic material that makes the surface smoother and less likely to scratch in case of a fall was used to make the floor more resistant.

The renovations were performed after repeated requests from Rio de Janeiro skaters, who alerted on social networks about the cracks and the lack of conservation and lighting at the site and created an online petition to draw the City Hall’s attention. It worked.

“We are proud to deliver the revitalized skatepark to Rio. As well as being an important facility to train the sport, now an Olympic discipline, they can also be used by people who just want to have fun,” says Secretary of Conservation Anna Laura Secco, who was present at the reopening.

With the foundation of the unprecedented Broad Front of Rio Skateboarders, which involves City Hall bodies and different groups of skaters in the city, new works are being considered to strengthen the practice of the radical sport in Rio de Janeiro.

Before the revamping of Lagoa, a first initiative was also conducted at the Olympic Village of Encantado, in the North Zone.

On Tuesday August 10, the Municipal Sports Secretariat and the Municipal Secretariat for Conservation are scheduled to inspect the tracks in Méier, Maracanã, Ilha do Governador, Estácio and Quinta da Boa Vista.

According to FASERJ’s vice-president Leonardo Silveira, aka Chico, the conservation of the tracks is crucial to ensure skateboarders’ safety and attract new practitioners.

“The tracks need preventive instead of corrective maintenance. The support of the government and companies that contribute and see the potential of skateboarding, one of the most practiced sports in Brazil and which can be a tool for social transformation, is very important,” he says.

Vice-president of the North Zone Skateboarding Association Júlio Tio Verde recalls that, in addition to the repair work, some tracks in Rio, such as Méier, which is currently deactivated, need to undergo major restructuring.

“The tracks in Engenhão, Maracanã, and Madureira Park are very damaged and merit more attention from public authorities. The renovations need to encompass facilities all over the city, so that schools can be created and great Rio talents may emerge, new Rayssas and new Kelvins,” he says.