- Source: 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 skateboarder to ever compete in the Olympic Games and the first male skateboarder to ever compete in a park event in the Olympic Games when he represented Denmark in the men's park event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Early life
Rune Glifberg was born in Copenhagen and began skating at the age of 11 years after a friend brought a skateboard as a gift, which he had bought in the US. He entered his first pro contest in France in 1990 and turned pro in 1992. Glifberg moved from Denmark to Costa Mesa, California, after he finished secondary school in 1995.
Professional skateboarding
In the early 1990s, Glifberg turned professional as a vert skater and relocated to the United States. Glifberg signed a contract with Flip Skateboards and, as of July 2021, he remains a member of the company's professional team.
Glifberg was sponsored by shoe company Etnies at around the same time as he joined Flip and his second signature shoe was called the Forsvar, meaning "defend" or "defense" in Danish. As of September 2012, Glifberg has released a line of signature shoes with Converse that consists of "The Allston" and the "Rune Pro Mid" models.
Glifberg is a playable character in the first five games of the Tony Hawk series of video games that consists of the four Pro Skater games and Tony Hawk's Underground.
Company owner
Glifberg is a part-owner of Pipeline Distribution and runs a Copenhagen-based event company "RunEvent". RunEvent was the organizer of 2010's "Burning of the Witch" skateboard contest at Amager Strandpark in Copenhagen. Burning of the Witch was jointly sponsored by Volcom, one of Glifberg's sponsors, and Thrasher Magazine. RunEvent organized Glifberg's 25th skateboarding anniversary that was held at Fælledparken in Copenhagen during the summer of 2011.
In 2009, Glifberg and architect Ebbe Lykke founded the skatepark design firm Glifberg+Lykke in Copenhagen. The duo have since taken the lead on a number of projects in Europe, including the Streetdome in Haderslev, Denmark; Oslo Skatehall in Oslo, Norway; Skatepark Eller in Düsseldorf, Germany; and the Urban Sport Zone in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Personal life
Glifberg resided in the United States for seventeen years, living for a period in the Leucadia district of Encinitas, California. He moved back to Denmark in the early 2010s and, as of 2021, is based in Copenhagen.
Contest history
Sponsors
Active sponsors as of July 2021:
Flip Skateboards
Hazard Wheels
Indy
Monster Energy
Nike SB
Pro-Tec
Volcom
= Former sponsors
=Converse
MOB Griptape
Oakley
Ricta
References
External links
Rune Glifberg at Olympedia (archive)
Rune Glifberg at Olympics.com
Rune Glifberg at the X Games (archived)
Rune Glifberg at The Boardr