BRISBANE 2032: Where will the OLYMPIC skatepark go?
It might have seemed surreal, but it did happen. You did just see skateboarding debut at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Millions of people worldwide watched on as skateboarders hit the Ariake Urban Sports Park to compete for medals in both street and park events.
Ariake Urban Sports Park’s skateboarding street course ©California Skateparks. Source: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/skateboarding-course-announcement?fbclid=IwAR3bamBoYRIxiI2gLgflT7WVqwpQjUfQZ41ObSexBMjv6U3cism1hyFf9_4?fbclid=IwAR3bamBoYRIxiI2gLgflT7WVqwpQjUfQZ41ObSexBMjv6U3cism1hyFf9_4
The freshly laid, bright white Tokyo concrete set the scene for some truly memorable moments from our Australian competitors, from Keegan Palmer’s stunning gold medal performance to Poppy Olsen’s impressive runs and heartwarming support for her fellow competitors.
It was especially significant for skateboarders here in South East Queensland, with Brisbane declared the official host of the 2032 Olympic Games just days before Tokyo’s opening ceremony.
While skateboarding is not yet officially confirmed for Brisbane’s Games at this stage, it is looking promising: International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach praised skateboarding as a success at Tokyo, while it is already lined up for Paris 2024 and has been reported as a certainty for inclusion at Los Angeles 2028 given the city’s skateboarding history.
Not only does this give our younger skateboarders something to aspire to in 11 years, but it gives a tantalising prospect: Brisbane can’t host Olympic skateboarding without an Olympic-standard skate park.
And based on the requirements and dimensions of Tokyo’s Ariake Urban Sports Park, that would mean a new facility would be required for Brisbane.
Where would such a skatepark be built? And what might it look like? Before getting too far into imagining your fantasy Brissie Olympic park, let’s take a deeper look into the issue.
“Brisbane can’t host Olympic skateboarding without an Olympic-standard skate park.”
Location, location, location
No site for an Olympic skate park is identified in any of the publicly available planning for the 2032 Games yet.
That’s understandable, given the many years it has taken to prepare Brisbane’s bid and how new skateboarding is to the Olympic scene.
Planning for Brisbane’s bid began in 2015, while skateboarding was only added to Tokyo’s programme in August 2016. It has since been provisionally approved for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and as mentioned above, is considered likely to remain beyond that.
So, while you won’t find skateboarding on any planning maps yet, it has been highlighted in studies as something for organisers to keep on their radar.
But where could it possibly go? Firstly, it is worth remembering that in addition to Brisbane, events will be held on the Gold Coast, Ipswich, and Sunshine Coast (subject to change).
A major factor in any location would be transport: close to public transport hubs for crowds, with suitable road access for athletes to be ferried in and out of from their accommodation.
So, if you're starting to design that fantasy Olympic skatepark in your head, make sure your location is somewhere near a train or bus station.
Australian Hayley Wilson at the Olympic street park in Tokyo
Designing an Olympic standard park
The Ariake Urban Sports Park, which includes BMX and BMX freestyle courses in addition to skateboarding, is 97,000m².
That is like 372 tennis courts or 195 NBA approved basketball courts or 5.5 times the size of the MCG oval.
While the exact dimensions for the street and park skateboarding courses aren’t floating around the internet, there’s one thing that’s easy to gather: it is big. Very big.
Ariake Urban Sports Park’s skateboarding park course ©California Skateparks. Source: https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/news/skateboarding-course-announcement?fbclid=IwAR3bamBoYRIxiI2gLgflT7WVqwpQjUfQZ41ObSexBMjv6U3cism1hyFf9_4?fbclid=IwAR3bamBoYRIxiI2gLgflT7WVqwpQjUfQZ41ObSexBMjv6U3cism1hyFf9_4
A press release from the IOC states that each course is about 1.5 to 2 times the size of a standard competition course.
That's a whole of flat rails, round rails, ledges, hips, volcanoes, and stair sets to contend with.
Given the nature of skateparks, the size and composition of Paris's 2024 courses will no doubt be different, but Tokyo has now set a benchmark for Olympic facilities.
Excitingly, a clue as to how an Olympic standard park might look is developing here in our backyard. The design team behind the current Pizzey Park upgrade is California Skateparks, the same crew that designed and built the Ariake Urban Sports Park courses.
Is Pizzey a preview?
The upgrade, which will keep the existing park and bowl but add 3000 square metres of street area, is due for completion in December this year.
According to the City of Gold Coast’s website, “It has been designed in accordance with Olympic standards and will enable the facility to hold major competitions and Olympic training for professional athletes into the future.”
When talking to ABC Gold Coast in 2020 about the upgrade, California Skateparks founder and CEO Joe Ciaglia specifically referenced designing a course that would allow younger skaters to emulate their Olympic heroes.
"Here in Australia you have two professional skaters, Tommy Fynn and Shane O'Neill, that are potentially going to be Olympic athletes, obviously competing in competitions,” Mr Ciaglia said.
"So we tried to design this course in a way that kids that might want to possibly see themselves there and be able to practice and learn how to skate at that little bit of a higher level.”
“We tried to design this course in a way that kids that might want to possibly see themselves there and be able to practice and learn how to skate at that little bit of a higher level.”
It begs the question: could Pizzey Park become the potential Games venue? While there are obvious factors in its favour, the fact that some of the course will be taken up with "beginner and intermediate-style stuff" (according to Mr Ciaglia) might make it unsuitable.
Pizzey Park masterplan, aerial perspective. Source: https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/Services/Projects-works/Pizzey-Park-Skate-Park-upgrade
Pizzey Park masterplan, ground perspective. Source: https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/Services/Projects-works/Pizzey-Park-Skate-Park-upgrade
Final thought
While Brisbane is too far out from hosting the Olympic Games to provide firm ideas on where an Olympic skatepark might be located, and how it will look, let’s be honest: it is fun to speculate and fantasy design.
Who knows, maybe one day all of our dreams of a really, REALLY good skatepark in Brisbane/SEQ will one day come true.
Keegan Palmer with his Olympic gold medal park run in Tokyo