1 Tony Hawk is the most famous skateboarder in the world. He has won more skateboarding competitions than anybody else. He has also invented more than eighty skateboarding tricks and was the first person to do one famous trick called the 900'. The 900 is a 360° somersault done two and a half times in the air! It took him six years to learn the 900. He finally did it in 1999. Since then only four other people have been able to do it 2 Before he started skateboarding, Tony was an angry and frustrated boy. He always was trying to do things that were too difficult for him. When he was six years old, his mother Nancy took him to a swimming pool. It was 50 metres long. He tried to swim from one end of the pool to the other without breathing! He was so frustrated when he couldn't do it,' Nancy remembers
3 But when Tony was nine years old, his brother Steve changed his life by giving him a skateboard. When Tony started getting good at skating, he became different person, a says Steve. He was calm. He started thinking about other people...He wasn't so worried about losing at other things
4 Tony Hawk is in his forties now, but he still skates about four times week. He spends a hours trying new things on his skateboard. He is married and has four children. So what's the best thing about skateboarding as a career? Being able to do what I love,' says Tony.