Skating in style, the Finnish in Chennai

Skateboarding is one of the most popular outdoor activities in the West, and its most attractive aspect of it is the freestyling, where you do tricks using just the skateboard.

CHENNAI: Skateboarding is one of the most popular outdoor activities in the West, and its most attractive aspect of it is the freestyling, where you do tricks using just the skateboard.

That’s why Jaako Ojanen, a world-famous skateboarder, is popular. The fact that his native, Finland, is not exactly the best place to pursue skateboarding, (due to long periods of winter) adds to his appeal!

“Pretty much most of the year, the weather in Finland is not conducive to skateboarding! So basically, we get around two-three months to skate. We have indoor skating rinks where we can practise during winters. I started skating thanks to my brother, who once took me to the rink and got me to fall in love with the sport.

As soon as we started doing our routines, we knew we wanted to get new boards and get into it full-time,” he says. Jaako does not follow any daily routine. “I just go out with friends and skate wherever I feel like. I guess this aspect of freedom helps in coming up with some of our new moves,” grins the 22-year-old.

Jaakko participated in his first national championship when he was 10, and he won. The Tampere resident describes this win as the most emotional moment of his life.

“It was 2005, when I won the Finnish championship. It made me realise I had it in me to become one of the best. Up until that point, I used to skate for fun. But that win changed a lot of things for me,” says the Red Bull athlete. He has been having fun in Chennai, and it helped to have a local friend here.

“I've been gorging on whatever food I could get my hands on. I have a friend here who has been taking me around and helping me with a lot of stuff. It has been a great experience in the country so far,” he grins.

Skateboarding will be introduced at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and Jaako feels that is a great platform for the sport. “It's exciting that skateboarding will be showcased as a sport in such a big platform. As far as my participation goes, it's too far off to worry yet,” he says.

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