“Estonians started producing skateboards, but at first it was not found outside of Estonia. Even later, in 1981-1982, boards appeared in Latvia, but they were extremely small in number.”
This Soviet-era video shows Ukrainians riding around on skateboards. It looked similar in Latvia as well. Riga, Liepāja, Priekuļi, Grobiņa, Talsi, a bit of Ogre, Uldis shows.
The author of the book lists the cities where the most active skaters were active. As with everything new, Soviet militiamen also fought with the owners of skateboards.
“We have had cases where boards have been taken down. Especially at the beginning. That’s why the first semi-official organizations, sections were born,” says Uldis.
The book also summarizes the results and winners of the first competition. Later, already at the end of the 80s, the best from Latvia managed to get to championships outside the country.
“We had very good success in competitions in Europe. That’s all mentioned. Jānis Gailis has won the World Cup in high jump with a board several times,” says the author of the book “The beginnings of Latvian skateboarding”.
The success achieved continued to encourage an influx of new skaters. This has been going on for over forty years to this day.
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