Robert Dean Silva Burnquist (; born 10 October 1976) is a Brazilian-American professional

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. S ...

who competed for Brazil throughout his career. In 2010, he became the first skateboarder to land a "

fakie In boardsports, fakie is riding backwards. When used in conjunction with a trick name, like "fakie ollie", it means that the trick was performed as it would normally be done only with the exception of riding backwards. Not to be confused with "sw ...

900" (900-degree reverse-natural rotation), making Burnquist the fifth person in history to successfully complete the 900 trick.

Early life

Burnquist was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil to an American father of Swedish descent and a Brazilian mother. He began his skateboarding training in his hometown of

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

at 11 years old, and turned professional at 14. He holds

dual citizenship Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on ...

in Brazil and the United States.

Career

upBurnquist skating in 2012, left Burnquist's specialties are switch stance skateboarding, and creating

vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme vers ...

tricks. He has a signature trick called the "Wee Willy

grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back (me ...

". In 2000, Burnquist won the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

' best trick contest, with his famous

Fakie In boardsports, fakie is riding backwards. When used in conjunction with a trick name, like "fakie ollie", it means that the trick was performed as it would normally be done only with the exception of riding backwards. Not to be confused with "sw ...

5-0 with a fakie

kickflip The kickflip is a skateboarding trick, in which the rider flips their skateboard 360° along the axis that extends from the nose to the tail of the deck. When the rider is regular footed the board spins counter-clockwise if viewed from the side. I ...

off of the grind bar. Burnquist's biggest success to date came in the vert contest at the 2001

. Prior to his final run (the last run of the event), he was sitting in second place behind two-time defending champion,

Bucky Lasek Charles Michael "Bucky" Lasek ( ; born December 3, 1972) is an American professional skateboarder and rallycross driver. Career Professional skateboarding Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Lasek started skateboarding at the age of 12, shortly af ...

. Burnquist produced a flawless run, including multiple tricks that had never been seen before and, as a result, were unnamed. Burnquist was rewarded with a score of 98 out of 100, the second highest score ever given in any

skateboarding event, behind only Bucky Lasek's score of a 98.50 the year before. Burnquist won a gold medal in the 2005

Best Trick vert contest, placing fourth in the

section, and sixth in the

Big Air Big air is a high-injury-risk sports discipline where the competitor rides a vehicle, such as a motocross motorcycle, a skateboard, a snowboard, or a pair of skis, down a hill or ramp and performs aerial tricks after launching off very large jump ...

contest. In 2006, Burnquist completed a BASE jump after attempting a 50-50 into the

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

. The first attempt nearly cost Burnquist his life after he missed the

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

and fell out of control, before regaining himself and successfully deploying his

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

. After some adjustments to the take-off ramp, his second attempt went flawlessly. This stunt was shown in an episode of the television show

Stunt Junkies ''Stunt Junkies'' is a Discovery Channel television series that presents professional athletes performing dangerous stunts. The show demonstrates all the steps the athlete must do to successfully complete the stunt. ''Stunt Junkies'' was created a ...

. At the 2013 X Games in Barcelona, Burnquist became the first skater to ever win gold on four consecutive occasions in Skateboard

(2011–2012 in Los Angeles, 2013 Foz do Iguaçu, 2013 Barcelona being his prior victories). He also tied BMX rider

Dave Mirra David Michael Mirra (April 4, 1974 – February 4, 2016) was an American BMX rider who also competed in rallycross racing. He set the record for most medals in BMX Freestyle at the X Games (later tied by Scotty Cranmer) and earned at least on ...

as the athlete with the most career

medals, with 24. In the 2013 X Games in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, Burnquist continued to make history by winning another gold medal in Skateboard

, extending his win streak in the event to five consecutive years - another new record, and making him the sole owner of the record for most career

medals in history, with 25. At

X Games Austin 2015 X Games Austin 2015 was an action sporting event that took place June 4–7, 2015, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. This Summer X Games is the second in a row to be held in Austin and the third full X Games event to be held in ...

, Burnquist won the gold medal in Skateboard Big Air, after having sustained a non-displaced fracture of his left forearm which he suffered during vert practice the same week. On day three, Burnquist won another gold medal in Big Air Doubles, in its very first appearance in X Games. His partner was BMX rider Morgan Wade as they scored a total of 90 points (43 from Morgan, 47 from Burnquist). Burnquist finished off Austin 2015 with a silver in Vert best trick, bringing him to a total of 30 Summer X Games medals, including 14 gold, with both stats being records. At

X Games Minneapolis 2017 X Games Minneapolis 2017 is an Extreme sport, action sporting event that took place July 13–16, 2017, at U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. This X Games, Summer X Games was the first held in the Midwest and the first of two X ...

, Burnquist announced his retirement from the X Games, having earned at least one medal at the event every year from 1997 through 2015 (with the exception of 2004). He holds the record for most medals won at the X Games by an individual, with a total of 30 (14 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze), and shares the record for most gold medals at the Summer X Games, with a total of 14 (tied with

and

Jamie Bestwick Jamie Bestwick (born 8 July 1971 in Nottingham, United Kingdom) is a British BMX rider. He won 13 gold medals in the BMX Vert event at the X Games, and one gold medal for Vert Best Trick. He started riding BMX with his friends at 10 years ol ...

). He is the only person to have competed in every single X Games summer event, beginning with the inaugural competition in 1995, every year through to 2017.

Bob Burnquist's Dreamland

Burnquist's home in Vista, California is home to his private skate park, Dreamland. The first build in his backyard skate park was a Wooden Vert Bowl (which was later concreted). This was followed by a metal full pipe, a loop with an opening gap in the roof (built for King of Skate 2002)) and a corkscrew. The Vert Bowl has been skated by dozens of skateboarders, including

Colin McKay Colin McKay (born August 29, 1975) is a Canadian professional skateboarder who is widely recognized for his involvement with the original Plan B Skateboards "superteam" (bunch of OG's) as well as the subsequent relaunch of the brand in 2005. E ...

Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first documen ...

Rune Glifberg Rune Glifberg (born 7 October 1974), nicknamed "The Danish Destroyer", is a Danish professional skateboarder. He is one of three skaters to have competed at every X Games. He has a total of 12 X Games medals. At 46, he became the oldest skateboa ...

, and Lincoln Ueda, and has been featured in hundreds of magazines and videos, including Tony Hawk's Trick Tips and ''

Thrasher Magazine ''Thrasher'' is a skateboarding magazine founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello. The publication consists primarily of skateboard- and music-related articles, photography, interviews and skatepark reviews. The magazine also ...

''. The biggest build on the site is the Megaramp. Burnquist's Megaramp is one of the world's few permanent

Mega Ramp A mega ramp, or megaramp, is the informal name given to ''any'' large-format vert ramp structure, often used in skateboarding and freestyle BMX. The name distinguishes a second generation of ramps which became increasingly popular during the 1 ...

s. The ramp is made up of a 50–70 foot gap jump, followed straight away by a 30 foot quarterpipe. Burnquist opens the ramp to other professionals to enable them to train for Mega ramp competitions and to help advance the progress of tricks on the Mega Ramp. Skateboarders such as

Elliot Sloan Elliot Sloan (born 29 July 1988) is an American professional skateboarder from New York City. Early life Elliot Sloan was born on 29 July 1988 in New York City, New York, and was raised there. Career Sloan is a five time X Games medalist, most re ...

Danny Way Danny Way (born April 15, 1974) is an American professional skateboarder, company owner and rallycross driver who has been awarded ''Thrasher'' magazine's "Skater of the Year" award twice. He is known for extreme stunts, such as jumping into a ...

and Jake Brown have all made use of the ramp. The latest major addition to the park was a hip ramp built at a 90° angle to the quarter pipe section of the Mega Ramp. This addition was built in 2013 as part of the filming of Burnquist's video ''Dreamland''. In 2013, Burnquist, alongside his sponsor Oakley, released a major video part titled ''Oakley's-Bob Burnquist's "Dreamland"''. The video is all filmed within the Dreamland compound.

Media

In 1994, Burnquist appeared in a short clip talking about the effects of gravity on the second episode (aptly titled "Gravity") of the first season of ''

Bill Nye the Science Guy ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by television station KCTS and McK ...

.'' Burnquist has been featured in the video game, ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', released as ''Tony Hawk's Skateboarding'' in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and parts of Europe, is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It was released for the PlayStation (c ...

'', and has appeared in every game in the Tony Hawk series up to ''

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground ''Tony Hawk's Proving Ground'' is a 2007 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Vicarious Visions for the Nintendo DS, and by Page 44 Studios for the PlayStation 2 and Wii. ''Proving Ground'' is the ni ...

'', with the exception of '' Pro Skater 3'', due to a result of his appearance in another skateboarding game, ''

ESPN X Games Skateboarding ''ESPN X Games Skateboarding'' is a video game developed by Konami for the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The PlayStation 2 version was released in North America on August 14, 2001, in Japan on September 20, 2001, and in Europe on January 25, ...

'', during that time. In 2004, Burnquist made a guest appearance as himself on the popular TV series, ''

Kim Possible ''Kim Possible'' is an American animated action comedy-adventure television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The title character is a teenage girl tasked with fighting crime on a regular basis while coping wi ...

''. Burnquist was also featured in a commercial for Aero chocolate bars. He also made a brief cameo in the 2003 skateboarding film ''

Grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back (me ...

''. In 2013, Burnquist appeared as himself on season 2, episode 4 of

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

's ''Superhumans''.

Philanthropy

Burnquist started the Bob Burnquist Foundation to bring knowledge about

organic farming Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

and gardening to schools, and was one of the founders of the Action Sports Environmental Coalition, a nonprofit organization that brings

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

awareness to skateboarders, surfers and BMXers. In an interview in 2010, Burnquist stated, "Well, the latest is that we're working with a restaurant chain called the Chipotle Grill- they've got good values, trying to make food with integrity- and I'm starting an organic garden that they've committed to studying and seeing what they can use in their own kitchens." In May 2020 Burnquist founded the Instituto Skate Cuida as an initiative to support vulnerable communities in Brazil and elsewhere by using skateboarding as an introduction to arts, culture, education, and skills development including programming and web3. The Institute has partnerships with various institutions such as Banco do Brasil, Ademáfia Institute, Nova Era Institute, and CemporcentoSKATE. The Instituto Skate Cuida maintains a fundraising project on the public goods-focused, web3-based platform Giveth.

Filmography

* és Menikmati * Anti Hero's self-titled video "Anti Hero" * Anti Hero's first video "Fucktards" * Tony Hawk's Gigantic Skatepark Tour: 2000, 2001 and 2002 * The Firm's "Can't Stop" * Flip's "Extremely Sorry" *

Viva La Bam ''Viva La Bam'' is an American reality television series that stars Bam Margera and his friends and family. The show is a spin-off from MTV's '' Jackass'', in which Margera and most of the main cast appeared. Each episode had a specific theme, ...

* A

Hurley International Hurley is an American company that sells clothes and accessories marketed towards surfing and swimming. Established in 1979 as a distributor for Billabong clothing in the United States, Hurley was sold to Nike, Inc. in 2002 for an undisclosed pri ...

skateboarding documentary "Hallowed Ground" * Oakley's-Bob Burnquist's "Dreamland"

Contest history

* 2nd in 2015

Austin Vert Best Trick * 1st in 2015

Austin Big Air Doubles * 1st in 2015

Austin Big Air * 2nd in 2014

Austin Big Air * 3rd in 2013

Los Angeles Big Air * 1st in 2013

Munich Big Air * 1st in 2013

Barcelona Big Air * 1st in 2013

Foz do Iguacu Big Air * 1st in 2012

Big Air * 1st in 2011

Big Air * 1st in 2010

Big Air Rail Jam * 3rd in 2010

Vert Best Trick * 2nd in 2010

Big Air * 2nd in 2009

Big Air Rail Jam * 3rd in 2009 Maloof Money Cup * 1st in 2008

Big Air * 1st in 2007

Big Air * 2nd in 2006

Vert * 3rd in 2006

Vert Best Trick * 3rd in 2006

Big Air * 1st in 2006 The Coolio Games * 1st in 2005

Vert Best Trick * 1st in 2003

vert doubles (with

) * 2nd in 2002

vert doubles (with

) * 2nd in 2002

Vert * 3rd in 2001

Vert Best Trick * 1st in 2001

vert * 1st in 2001

Slam City Jam Slam City Jam, the North American Skateboard Championships, is the longest-running skateboarding event in North America and is among the best in the world. It debuted in Vancouver in 1994. The three-day event captures the vibrant music and lifesty ...

vert. * 1st in 2000

Vert Best Trick * 1st in 2000 Slam City Jam vert. * 3rd in 1999

Vert Best Trick * 3rd in 1998

Vert Doubles * 3rd in 1997

Vert * 4th in 1996 Gravity Games Jam vert. * 1st in 1995 Slam City Jam vert.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnquist, Bob American skateboarders Brazilian skateboarders Laureus World Sports Awards winners Brazilian people of American descent Brazilian people of Swedish descent Brazilian emigrants to the United States American people of Swedish descent American sportspeople of Brazilian descent X Games athletes Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) People from Vista, California 1976 births Living people