Tony Hawk had to pull off one last Ollie 540 and he broke into tears. The action sports legend has been a delightful follow on Twitter since his arrival on the platform. But, this week, he decided to share an emotional moment with fans. Hawk has been at this skating thing for a long time, but nothing could have prepared him for this milestone. The 52-year-old wiped out plenty of times over the course of his career, he figured a few more times wouldn’t hurt. The veteran wanted to give the trick a firm retirement ceremony. That means it’s time to Ollie 540 one last time on Instagram. Unfortunately, he took some cuts to his pinky. The legend spoke to Newsweek about this chapter of their life.
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“I’d like to foster the growth of skating internationally,” Hawk said. “I realize that with the Olympics coming, that’s an opportunity to show it on a bigger venue but, I’m more interested in … skating starting to grow in places like Cambodia and South Africa, Afghanistan and there’s a skate community in Uganda. And to me, that’s the exciting part about how far skating has come. Whatever I can do to raise awareness or promote the growth, that’s what I want to do.”
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He also talked about how wild it was to be at the center of the cultural zeitgeist when it came to action sports in the late 1990s. There’s no question that Hawk was the biggest star in the genre and still is in some ways.
“In the ’90s, when the X Games started, people knew my name from the previous generation. It was sort of like I had this crossover, [I] was bridging a gap,” he added. “And I was still doing well. I had the experience and history with skating, I could speak to its roots as well as its future. It was never something I ever intended; it was more bestowed upon me and I was happy to take responsibility.”
So, it’s interesting to see the journey he’s traveled up until this point. Hopefully, the skateboarding legend can thrill people for years to come. At least for now, Twitter will remind us that no one can tell who he is in normal circumstances.
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