Rodney Mullen Didn't Invent The Kickflip #skateboarding

People often think Rodney Mullen invented the kickflip, but according to Rodney himself, that's not true.

[cremebrulee]

Long story short, he did invent the kickflip

[ward]

Logic so good. Back in the day when the internet was new. Millennials had a term for 1v1 messaging with a another person. It was called "private message." Now Gen Z decided to call it something else, now it's "direct message." So that means Gen Z invented Direct Messages? No They didn't. They just call it something else now. Just like Rodney did invent the kickflip it's just called something else now.

[stressfacture]

rodney is a very humble guy. but the ollie on flat ground is entirely different mechanically. in transition you can rely on the coping or ramp to move your board against your feet or into the air (in the 80s early grab and hope for the best) . on flat ground you have to create that energy with precise motions. that’s why it was such a big deal when tony hawk started grabbing after popping his tail in transition. it’s way harder and different trick than an early grab.

[RubenAndrade-xxjz]

Rodney Mullen didn't NAME the kickflip, is what this should be called.

[GRAFIVERSACE]

long story short: he didnt invent the word "kickflip"

[saulorocha]

Rodney did invent the flat ground ollie and kickflip. Though the name ollie is credited to Alan Gelfand for doing the first no hand air in vertical, called ollie air, the ollie as a flat ground and basic street skate trick is Rodney’s. The kickflip he discovered by accident.

[KyleC_]

Wasn't trying to flip the board, he simply kicked away and the board flipped, then he started trying to flip it

[SkyThreader]

Video: "I'm about to hit you with semantics so hard, your brain will be doing an kickflip."

[buddur]

Technically a kickflip was done in the 70s and Rodney didnt invent it. Yeah, Gelfand invented the ollie on transition but Rodney invented the flat ground ollie and subsequently the ollie kickflip. Few people do the old school kickflip anymore...so now the ollie kickflip that everyone does now that Rodney invented is known as just a kickflip.

[brianbelcher]

Are you sure you didn't mean to say Rodney Mullen didn't invent the "Ollie"? It sounds like you're saying Rodney invented the kickflip as we know it. If Rodney didn't invent the modern kickflip, who did?

[SacRoyalDetail]

Long story short, he did invent the kick flip. 😂😂😂😂😂

[OperationBlueprint]

So you don't invent a light bulb by making it, but every time someone gives it a new name they invented it?

[StretchMedia]

Lmao Rodney Mullen said he invented it in his garage or driveway by accident while doing ollies. His friends called it the magic flip because the didnt know how he did it. You should watch Hawk V Wolf podcast with Rodney Mullen

[bowenupholsterygroup]

Don’t you just immediately tune out as soon as “technically” enters the conversation? Always going to be followed by pretension. 😂

[CaboLabsHealthInformatics]

He didn't want to flip the board, he did an ollie and it flipped, he observed that and tried to repeat the same motion, then perfected it. It was a discovery not a goal.

[Ed.die]

The original kickflip wasn't the kickflip we all know today. It used to be riding on a ledge like obstacle and kicking your board from underneath to flip it while riding off the ledge and landing on it.

[TWOxTONE_]

For those who know. Rodney didn’t invent the kickflip. He gives all the credit to his board.

[BrokenAmari]

You didn’t specify that the kickflip was already a trick

[Shanemvm]

This is technically also true, there were kickflips before ollies where you put your foot slightly under the board and forced it into a flip but they didnt look like the kickflips we know now where it ollies and then you flip.

[americangangster]

The original Ollie was essentially a scooped frontside 180 on a bank/transition. Rodney Mullen's flat ground Ollie was completely different. Rodney Mullen's flat ground Ollie was actually based on a freestyle maneuver where you would jump from the tail of your board to the nose of your board. Rodney talks about this in his interview with Tony Hawk and Jason Ellis. Rodney is the inventor of the flat ground Ollie and the kickflip.