Not an Athlete!

The Paris 2024 Olympics are nearing an end and, once again, the events that have me most glued to the TV coverage are the Park Skateboarding - both women's and men's.

Sky Brown won a bronze medal - again - for Team GB but our only hope in the men's event, Andrew MacDonald (Andy Mac) didn't qualify for the finals because, despite two (almost three) perfect performances, the judges' scores were not high enough to place him in the top eight. To be fair, the standards were very high.

Andy MacDonald and Tony Hawk go way back - see this clip of their 'doubles' routine. 

I'm older than Tony Hawk and I'm not an athlete so skateboarding was never a sport for me to try - although I did regularly go roller-skating when I was a teen. Loved it but was never particularly good at it.

Not an Assassin, either!

Skateboarding aside, the event I'd really like to see included is Parkour. Knowing the way the Olympics is years behind the mood of the people, this won't happen for a while but the perfect debut would have been the Paris games. Indeed, their open ceremony paid tribute to it.

Parkour to be included in the Olympic Games?

Finally, back to skateboarding, kids who enjoy it should have more encouragement. Domed indoor facilities would facilitate year-round practice. There are quite a few outdoor parks (many neglected, mostly unsupervised) but these are only useful for the three months of fair weather we have in the UK. It's no wonder that Australia picked up this year's gold medals and that our Olympic-standard Brits are from America! Check out this UK skate park website.

Parkour, Paris, Uzbekistan

I recently discovered this amazing video, filmed in Paris, a demonstration of the skills used in Assassins' Creed digital games...

 

Which led me to this incredible fan-made short, filmed in Uzbekistan:

There were a couple of instances where it would have been better if modern technology could have been edited out, e.g. electrical floodlights - but that takes nothing away from the overall experience.

Having watched these, I remembered a holiday post about touring around Tuscany in Italy, with visits to the village of Monteriggioni and the small town of San Gimignano, locations featured in the classic Ezio games. 

Meanwhile, if you liked these productions, here are more Assassins Creed Meets Parkour videos (links below, in date-release order)

• Assassin's Creed 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAhPaiajwDY 
• Assassin's Creed 3: https://youtu.be/Py-yRjM0le8 
• Black Flag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYP4wKD-6J8 
• Unity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8b1zWOgOKA 
• Syndicate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFRscoOkkb8 
• Movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SY0EhJcciw

Enjoy!