12/12/2020
Skateboarding Legend Peggy Oki.
The team that revolutionized the sport of skateboarding in the 1970s may have been known as the Z-Boys, but they had one girl member: Peggy Oki. Her skating style, and that of the Z-Boys as a whole, was graceful, powerful, and unprecedented, emulating the effortless flow of a surfer on a wave. It was an organic combination that grew out of the team's love for surfing the Southern California swells, which, translated to the concrete of deserted schoolyards and drained swimming pools, became a low-to-the-ground, gritty, and mesmerizing form of skateboarding. That style and the high-flying tricks it made possible soon came to dominate the skating world, revitalizing the sport and giving rise to the culture and competitions (including the X Games and, as of 2020, the Olympics) that we know today.
It was a heady moment for skateboarding, but one that was, at least to mainstream eyes, dominated by men. The lone girl on the Z-Boys' team stood out as she skated to first place in women's freestyle at the 1975 Del Mar Nationals, where the Z-Boys made their competitive debut. Peggy Oki was a trailblazer on a team that was already changing the sport irrevocably, but that legacy, and her particular hand in it, wasn't at the forefront of her mind...
Sumber : Pop Sugar / Reporting Kahnita Wilkerson