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Tony Hawk: Skateboarding will give Olympics 'youth cool factor'

Don Arnold / WireImage / Getty

The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo will feature the debuts of several new sports, including skateboarding.

Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk thinks the inclusion will help the Olympics connect with a younger generation.

"I think it's long overdue and I think it's going to be great to see the new generation of skaters be recognized on that level and to have that sort of opportunity that generations past never got," Hawk told Alexandra Licata of Business Insider.

"At the same time, I don't think it's the end all to skateboarding's popularity or to skateboarding's journey. If anything, it's more that the Olympics needs this youth cool factor in their programming and they're going to get it with skateboarding in the summer games the way that they got it with snowboarding in the winter games."

In addition to skateboarding, the 2020 Games will welcome the additions of karate, surfing, and sport climbing. Baseball and softball will also return after being absent from the summer program since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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