Watch This Pro Gymnast Attempt an Olympic Skateboarding Course

Nile Wilson won a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympics in the artistic gymnastics category. Since retiring as a pro gymnast, he has garnered a large following on his YouTube channel, where he collabs with athletes from other disciplines, including bodybuilding, strongman and CrossFit. He’s recently taken on a challenge to try as many different Olympic sports as possible, and after getting his butt kicked by a couple of young Taekwondo champions, he decides to turn his hand to skateboarding in his latest video.

Nile meets up with skateboarders Noddy, Joel and Carl at the Action Space indoor skate park to learn the ropes. While his background in gymnastics means his balance, mobility and core strength are all on point, he soon finds that skateboarding requires a whole different kind of coordination.

They start off simple, demonstrating how to manoeuver on the ramp, before moving onto a bigger and more complex courses, where the challenge is to keep the upper body completely still while letting the board turn. Which sounds simple enough, until Nile ends up losing his skateboard altogether and running back down the ramp.

The skateboarders also teach Nile some popular tricks, and after a couple of tries, he masters how to pop an Ollie before moving onto more complicated moves—many of which end in him completely wiping out. “I think I need to go to hospital,” he says at the end of the video.

Skateboarding was officially added to the roster of Olympic sports in 2016, and this year, Tony Hawk, arguably the most famous skateboarder on the planet, will be commentating on the competition during the Tokyo Games. “A whole new generation will get to experience skateboarding with genuine public support and meaningful opportunity,” Hawk wrote on Instagram, adding: “I predict it will be one of the highlights from all of the Olympic Games coverage this year.”

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