Snowboarding first made its Olympic debut in the 1998 games in Nagano and it certainly made waves. People everywhere started to look at snowboarding as more mainstream and less of a rebellious activity that crazy kids partake in. It exposed people to action sports and showed them there were more sports out there that didn’t revolve around a ball of some sort.

To the general population, it made snowboarding “ok.” In my opinion, the action sports industry only benefited from the Olympic exposure. More people getting involved, taking notice, recognizing the athletes and even taking up the sport themselves. In fact, my family still refers to Shaun White as “the kid with the red hair in the Olympics.” I don’t think snowboarding NEEDED to be in the Olympics, but the more exposure an action sport gets, the better for the industry as a whole.

Now it’s BMX’s turn in Beijing. Don’t expect to see Dave Mirra up there anytime soon, though. Athletes will be racing their little hearts out on a dirt course which will include lots of bumps, hard turns and other obstacles.

Some might think that by being in the Olympics, it takes away from the “core” aspect of the sport. Maybe some view it as selling out. I mean, there will always be that guy that hates on their once-favorite band because the group decided to accept a paycheck for their music. Frankly, I think it’s awesome that action sport athletes are getting the opportunity to add “Olympic Gold Medalist” to their resume and trophy case.