TONY Hawk took skateboarding to new heights in 1999 when, high above a halfpipe at the X Games, he began furiously spinning, completing 2½ turns in the air before gliding gracefully back onto the ramp.
The 900 – named for the number of degrees of rotation the move requires – had seemed impossible, but Hawk, his sport’s biggest star, had landed it, rewriting the rules of what could be done on a skateboard and exposing the sport to a far more mainstream audience.
