The 2024 Olympic Games is well underway and skateboarding is one of the many sports that you might tune in to.

As the Olympic Games have such a range of different sports, including some that aren’t usually widely televised, you might find yourself watching a sport you don’t fully understand.

While you can sometimes start to pick up the rules as you watch, having some background knowledge beforehand is often useful.

To help you out, we’ve broken down some key questions on skateboarding and how the sport works in the Olympic Games.

How will Olympic skateboarding work at Paris 2024?

Skateboarding might be one of the freshest Olympic sports on the scene but Team GB is already breaking records.

Sky Brown became Britain's youngest-ever Olympic medallist when she won the women's park bronze at Tokyo 2020, at the age of 13.

A fast-growing underground sport for thrill-seekers and adventurers, the sport has become one of the newest Olympic sensations.

Watch every moment of Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport.  To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk  

What skateboarding events are at the Olympics?

There are two different skateboarding disciplines at the Olympics: park and street. With male and female categories open for both disciplines, there are a total of four skateboarding events at the Games.

What's the difference between park and street skateboarding?

Park skateboarding takes place on a varied course combining bowls and bends, to help the athletes gather speed and perform tricks mid-air.

In the park events, athletes compete in three 45-second runs and are judged on their ability to use the surfaces to gain height and perform a wide range of tricks in preliminary rounds and finals.

The street competition takes place on a ‘street-like’ course with stairs, handrails and other obstacles to resemble the urban environments where skateboarding started out.

Street competitions see athletes compete in two 45-second runs, performing just five tricks per run in a competition of preliminary rounds and finals.

What does regular or goofy mean in skateboarding?

Similar to snowboarding, surfing, and other board sports, skateboarders can choose to ride with a regular stance or a goofy stance.

Goofy-footers skate with their right foot at the front of the board and push with their left foot whilst “riding regular” means that you skate with your left foot as your front foot and push your board with your right foot.

Why are skateboarders often so young?

Skateboarding attracted interest at Tokyo 2020 due to the majority of its competitors being teenagers. In fact, the average age of the women's street competition at its Olympic debut was just 14 years old.

There's no science behind why youngsters achieve such success in the sport, although it's important to note that the likes of Team GB's Andy Macdonald will turn 51 during Paris 2024.

The sport itself attracts young children and teens through its comradery in the skatepark and the enticement of getting a trick just right.

Add that to the fearless nature of Olympic skateboarders, teenagers seem to be dominating the sporting stage.

How is skateboarding scored at the Olympics?

The street competition will see a change in scoring at Paris 2024, with the aim of providing greater equality between the two phases - tricks and runs.

At Tokyo 2020, each individual score for a trick or a run was marked between 0 and 10 points, with the total score obtained by adding the best four scores together, regardless of which phase they were obtained.

For Paris 2024, a skateboarder’s best run out of the two they perform will count towards the total score (0 to 100), while each of their best two tricks will be given a score of between 0 and 100, making a final score of between 0 and 300.

Recommended reading:

In the event of a tie, the skater with the higher run score will be ranked higher. If that still results in a tie, the higher-scoring trick between the two skaters will be ranked higher.

In the park competition, each run is scored on a scale of 0 to 100 points based on overall impression, taking into account height, difficulty and variety of tricks as well as speed and flow through the course.

A panel of five judges will each deliver a score, with the highest and the lowest being dropped. The three remaining scores are averaged together to get the total score for each run.