4 times flying over the Great Wall? He is the real "Skateboard No.1"!

He has flown over the Great Wall 4 times; he is the world record holder for skateboard span; he is the only professional skater on the earth to "slide off an airplane". Who is he?

He is the real "Skateboard No.1" - Danny Wei!

Many disasters and difficulties, skateboarding into a "savior"

Danny Wei was born on April 15, 1974 in Portland, Oregon. Still, his childhood wasn't spent in the city, but in San Diego, California.

For this cool skateboarding god, childhood life is not beautiful, but can be described as "many disasters and difficulties".

It turned out that when he was less than 1 year old, his biological father Dennis Wei committed suicide in prison. He was jailed for failing to pay his ex-wife the child's alimony on time. Soon after Dennis's death, Danny Wei's mother, Mary, began to associate with different men, and was often abused by each other, occasionally danny Wei and his brother Damon. Later, Mary chose to remarry and married Tim O-Day. Luckily, Tim was an amiable stepfather who exposed Danny Wei and Damon to skateboarding and surfing.

The first time he skateboarded, Danny Wei was only 4 years old. The sport, like a warm light, illuminated his dim and tragic childhood. It is no exaggeration to say that for this ill-fated boy, skateboarding is the "savior".

However, the good times did not last long, and Mary and Tim parted ways, while Tim was killed in a surf. At a young age, Danny Wei once again lost his father. His "yearless friend" and his childhood mentor, Mike Turnersky, a well-known professional skater in the United States, were killed in a car accident. For Danny Wei, this is undoubtedly another heavy blow.

Whether on skateboarding or in life, Mike has given great help to the overstretched Danny Wei, and even affected his life.

Mike Turnerski

Misfortune ensued, and Danny Wei's life fell to the bottom. He once recalled that without skateboarding, he could not imagine what his life would be like. He said: "It allowed me to successfully withdraw from all the misfortunes that were entangled in me. ”

The opponent is only himself

As the days passed, Danny Wei once watched a skateboarding competition at the famous skatepark in San Diego, "Del Mar Skate Ranch" (for a long time, considered the only place in San Diego where he could mingle with other skateboarders).

In his words, that game was simply the "Super Bowl" for him, cementing his dream of becoming a professional skater.

After that, Danny Wei practiced skateboarding harder and harder. In 1989, he ushered in his first professional skateboarding competition and won the championship in the face of everyone's praise. Since then, his skateboarding glory has opened the curtain.

In 1991 and 2004, the professional skater was named the "Skateboard star" of the year by Thrasher, the world's top skateboarding magazine. You know, he's the only skateboarder to be awarded this honor twice. In 2003, he was awarded the title of "The World's Best Skateboarder in Vertical Sports". Gold medals are only a small part of his skateboarding career. An avid adventurer, he has also set several world records.

Let's take a look:

Major achievements

In 1997, at the age of 25, Danny Wei set two world records. One was to use a skateboard to fly 12 feet (about 3.7 meters) and flip through the air, breaking the world skateboard flying record; the other was to jump from a helicopter into a U-shaped slide, naturally becoming the only skater on Earth to "slide off the plane". Since then, skateboarding has also added a new term - "bomb throwing".

In 2002, he set a new world skateboarding record at 18.3 feet ( about 5.6 meters ) . In the same year, he also set another world record, the "longest skateboard leap," at 65 feet (about 19.8 meters).

Incredibly, over the next two years, he set new records for the "longest skateboard jump" with impressive results of 75 feet (about 22.9 meters) and 79 feet (about 24.1 meters).

In this way, in the self-challenge of time and again, Danny Wei's skateboarding life reached its peak. Out of his boundless love of skateboarding, he founded a skateboard school, a skateboard manufacturing factory, and a skateboard club. At the same time, he changed from a poor and poor child to a happy man with a lot of money, a wife who loved him deeply, and a smart and lovely child.

Break through the limits and fly over the Great Wall four times

Material superiority did not make him afraid. In the face of challenges, he is still the same as ever. As a result, there was a "flying over the Juyongguan Great Wall" that shocked the world!

On July 9, 2005, Danny Wei stepped on a skateboard and flew over the Juyongguan Great Wall four times. Although it was impossible to break the Guinness World Record in the height, span and speed of the leap, it still showed the world the infinite charm of skateboarding.

In other words, the audience on that day was as many as tens of thousands of people, which was really "gongs and drums, firecrackers in unison, red flags, and a sea of people" (here, although it is Erdo's own imagination, it is not difficult to imagine how spectacular).

According to media reports of the year, in the first flyby, Danny Wei successfully completed the flyby, but the skateboard fell off after landing; in the second flight, he successfully completed the 360-degree grasping maneuver; in the third flyby, his height in the air was significantly increased, but there was another mistake in the process of grabbing the board.

In order to make a shock to the Guinness Book of World Records, the stubborn skater made a fourth flyby. However, it backfired, and although it successfully flew over again, it still made a mistake on the grasping board.

Now, 17 years later, but now it seems that his flying over the Great Wall is still a pioneering move!

It is worth mentioning that the day before flying over the Great Wall, Danny Wei injured his shoulder and ankle during the test jump. However, he did not want to give up, so he took the closed needle to meet what he called "the biggest challenge of his career".

Scarred, but said not dangerous

For him, though, spraining his ankle wasn't a problem at all. It's not pretending to be strong, but the pain has always been commonplace for Danny Wei, who is willing to dedicate his life to skateboarding.

At the age of 15, he was injured in training, resulting in a crushing fracture of his right elbow, which is still unable to be fully straightened today. At the age of 20, he was seriously injured while surfing, resulting in a fractured neck. Although it is difficult not to die, there is a temporary nerve injury, and it is impossible to move above the waist for the next six months. At the time, doctors announced that he would most likely not be able to skateboard anymore. The doctor's words made this skateboarding genius fall into an ice cave. He didn't know if he could survive without skateboarding.

After a short period of despair, he decided to challenge himself again and force himself to complete a rehabilitation training that ordinary people could not bear. As it turned out, he once again defeated himself, re-stepped on the skateboard in the shortest time, returned to the field, and won the gold medal.

However, the pain did not take a detour due to Danny Wei's tenacity. Right shoulder dislocation, multiple injuries to the ligament of the left knee, rib fractures... more than a dozen surgeries, large and small, it is not too much to describe it as "scarred".

Despite this, Danny Wei, who is "obsessed with boards", said with a relaxed face that skateboarding was not dangerous, as if every operation he had undergone and every drop of blood he had shed was just a small bump.

Indeed, nothing can stop his insistence on skateboarding, his desire to push the limits. The extreme sports spirit of "not giving up lightly and not losing easily" is vividly reflected in his body.

Danny Wei has said, "Skateboarding has long been an integral part of my life. When it comes to skateboarding, my passion will never diminish! One day I'll get old and I might play skateboarding a different way. ”

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