Who is Bob Burnquist?

Robert Dean Silva Burnquist (born October 10, 1976 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), better known as Bob Burnquist, is a professional skateboarder and a Christian Spiritist[1]. He was born to a Swedish-American father and a Brazilian mother. He became adept at skateboarding in São Paulo starting at age 11 and turned pro at age 14. As an adult he emigrated to North America; he holds dual citizenship from Brazil and the U.S.

The biggest competition that he has won was the vert contest at the 2001 X-Games. Before his final run- the last run of the event- Burnquist was sitting in second place behind two-time defending champion Bucky Lasek. Burnquist produced a flawless run, including multiple tricks that had never been seen before, and as a result, were unnamed. During the run, commentator Tony Hawk went hoarse and nearly lost his voice while screaming in disbelief. Burnquist was rewarded with a 98, the highest score ever given in skateboard vert.

Burnquist's speciality is switch stance skateboarding. He has always tried to find new ways to make his tricks more creative and more difficult. He has a signature trick called "one-footed smith grind". Burnquist has also been featured in the hit video game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and appeared in all of its sequels. However, he was not featured in Pro Skater 3 because of license restrictions, as he was featured in another video game, X-Games Skateboarding, during that year. He is again, however, a featured skater in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.

Burnquist has also won a gold medal on the 2005 X-Games Best Trick vert contest.

Burnquist is the only skater to go over a loop ramp with a gap in it (OP King Of Skate) Not only was the loop gapped, but Bob also did the gap switch. He is also the first skater to go through a loop while riding switch stance, and the first to go all the way around a full pipe just by pumping up to speed inside it. In 2000, Burnquist won the X-Games' best trick contest with his famous fakie 5-0, fakie Kickflip out off of the grind bar.

Bob Burnquist completed a BASE jump after attempting a world class rail slide into the Grand Canyon. The first attempt nearly cost Burnquist his life after he missed the rail and fell out of control before regaining himself and successfully deploying his parachute. After some adjustments to the take-off ramp his second attempt went off flawlessly. This stunt was shown in an episode of the television show Stunt Junkies.

He lives with professional skateboarder Jen O'Brien, and their daughter Lotus, in Vista, California, where he has a world-renowned vert ramp in his backyard. It has been skated by dozens of famous skateboarders, including Colin McKay, Tony Hawk, Bucky Lasek, and Lincoln Ueda, and has been featured in hundreds of magazines and videos, including Tony Hawk's Trick Tips and Thrasher Magazine. Burnquist's latest addition to his backyard skate-park is one of the world's few permanent Mega Ramp.

He had also started the Bob Burnquist Foundation to bring knowledge about organic farming and gardening to schools, and was one of the founders of the Action Sports Environmental Coalition, a nonprofit organization that brings ecological awareness to skateboarders, surfers and BMXers.