Rune Glifberg (born 7 October 1974), nicknamed "The Danish Destroyer", is a Danish professional

skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United Stat ...

. He is one of three skaters to have competed at every

X Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Mo ...

. He has a total of 12 X Games medals. At 46, he became the oldest skateboarder to ever compete in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

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 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Early life

Rune Glifberg was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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 Costa Mesa (; Spanish language, Spanish for "coastal tableland") is a city in Orange County, California, United States. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including ...

, after he finished secondary school in 1995.

Professional skateboarding

In the early 1990s, Glifberg turned professional as a

vert Vert or Verts may refer to: * Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry * Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer * Vert (river), in southern France * Vert (sport), a competition in extreme versio ...

skater and relocated to the United States. Glifberg signed a contract with

Flip Skateboards Flip Skateboards is a United States–based international skateboard company, co-owned by Jeremy Fox and Ian Deacon. The company produces skateboard hard goods (decks, wheels, bearings, completes, and hardware), soft goods (T-shirts, tops, swea ...

and, as of July 2021, he remains a member of the company's professional team. Glifberg was sponsored by shoe company

Etnies Etnies (stylized as etnies) is a French-American footwear brand based in Lake Forest, California, United States, and is owned by Sole Technology, Inc. The company sponsors professional skateboarders and BMX riders, LAB more and releases signa ...

at around the same time as he joined Flip and his second signature shoe was called the , 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 ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...

''.

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 Amager Strandpark (Amager Beach Park) is a seaside public park in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located on the island of Amager and includes an artificial island and offers a total of of beaches. From the beach, the Middelgrunden wind farm can be s ...

in Copenhagen. Burning of the Witch was jointly sponsored by

Volcom Volcom was an American lifestyle brand that designed, marketed, and distributed boardsports-oriented products. Volcom is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California. The brand was known for its trademark ''stone'' logo, its slogan ''True to This'', ...

, one of Glifberg's sponsors, and ''

Thrasher Magazine Thrasher is an American skateboarding media brand founded in January 1981 by Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello, who also founded Independent Truck Company, and officially launched as a skateboard magazine. Since the 1990s, Thrasher has expanded i ...

''. RunEvent organized Glifberg's 25th skateboarding anniversary that was held at

Fælledparken The park Fælledparken in Copenhagen, Denmark, was created 1906–1914 by landscape architect Edvard Glæsel in cooperation with the Copenhagen Municipality on the commons (Danish: ''fælled'') previously named ''Nørrefælled'' and ''Østerfæ ...

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 Haderslev (; ) is a Denmark, Danish town in the Region of Southern Denmark with a population of 22,405 (1 January 2025).Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway; Skatepark Eller in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, Germany; and the Urban Sport Zone in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Netherlands. File:Streetdome, Haderslev 2.jpg, Streetdome in Haderslev

Personal life

Glifberg resided in the United States for seventeen years, living for a period in the Leucadia district of

Encinitas, California Encinitas ( Spanish for "Small Oaks") is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. Located in Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego, between Solana Beach and Carlsbad, and a ...

. He moved back to Denmark in the early 2010s and, as of 2021, is based in

Contest history

X-Games The X Games are a series of action sports events founded by ESPN Inc. and aired on ESPN networks and ABC. In late 2022, ESPN sold the long-running property to MSP Sports Capital, a private equity firm co-founded by Jahm Najafi and Jeff Moor ...

history: * Summer 2013 Skateboard Park: 4 * Summer 2013 Skateboard Park: 2 * Summer 2012 Skateboard Park: 3 * Summer 2011 Skateboard Vert: 17 * Summer 2011 Skateboard Park: 7 * Summer 2010 Skateboard Park: 7 * Summer 2009 Skateboard Vert: 7 * Summer 2009 Skateboard Park: 1 * Summer 2008 Skateboard Vert: 10 * Summer 2008 Skateboard Park: 1 * Summer 2007 Skateboard Vert: 7 * Summer 2006 Skateboard Vert: 5 * Summer 2005 Skateboard Vert Best Trick: 5 * Summer 2005 Skateboard Vert: 9 * Summer 2004 Skateboard Vert: 3 * Summer 2003 Skateboard Vert Doubles ( Mike Crum): 2 * Summer 2003 Skateboard Vert Best Trick: 6 * Summer 2003 Skateboard Vert: 3 * Summer 2002 Skateboard Vert Doubles (Mike Crum): 3 * Summer 2002 Skateboard Vert: 3 * Summer 2001 Skateboard Vert: 6 * Summer 2000 Skateboard Vert Doubles (Mike Crum): 6 * Summer 2000 Skateboard Vert 5 * Summer 1999 Skateboard Vert Doubles (Mike Crum): 3 * Summer 1999 Skateboard Vert: 12 * Summer 1998 Skateboard Vert: 12 * Summer 1997 Skateboard Vert Doubles (Mike Crum): 5 * Summer 1997 Skateboard Vert: 2 * Summer 1996 Skateboard Vert: 17 * Summer 1995 Skateboard Vert: 3 Competitive history * 1st place – 2023 Copenhagen Open – Fælledparken Bowl Contest * 19th place – Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Park * 3rd place – 2019 ANOC World Beach Games Qatar Park Mens Qualifiers * 3rd place – 2019 Men's 15 and Up Danish National Championships in Park Skateboarding Finals * 2nd place – 2019 Vans Combi Pool Party Masters Finals * 1st place – 2018 Vans Park Series Europa Continental Championships Men's Prelims * 3rd place – 2017 Lisboa Stone Crushers: Vert Finals * 2nd place – 2017 Fælledparken Pro Bowl * 1st place – 2017 Vans Park Series Men's Continental Championships at

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Finals * 2nd place – 2017 Bowl a Rama Bondi Pro Qualifiers * 3rd place – 2016 Copenhagen Open Bowl Jam at Fælledparken * 1st place – 2016 Australian Open of Surfing Finals * 2nd place – 2015 Copenhagen Open Bowl Jam * 1st place – 2014 Copenhagen Vert Jam * 2nd place – 2010 Vans Protec Pool Party * 2nd place – 2009 Converse Fix To Ride * 1st place – 2009 X GAMES 15 Skateboard Park * 1st place – 2009 Copenhagen Pro vert * 3rd place – 2009 Vans Protec Pool Party * 1st place – 2008 X GAMES 14 SUPERPARK * 1st place – WCSK8 - World Champion Skateboarding World Bowl Rankings * 2nd place – 2008 Copenhagen Pro vert * 1st place – 2008 Quiksilver Bowlriders Malmo * 1st place – 2008 Vans Protec Pool Party * 2nd place – 2008 Bondi Bowl-A-Rama Australia * 1st place – 2008 Okaley Bowl-A-Rama Wellington, New Zealand * 1st place – 2007 Copenhagen Pro vert * 2nd place – 2007 WCSK8 World Bowl Rankings * 1st place – 2007 Protec Pool Party * 1st place – 2007 Bowl-A-Rama Australia * 1st place – 2007 Quiksilver Bowlriders (Sweden) * 1st place – 2006 Northshore Bowl Jam * 3rd place – 2006 Desert Dog Park Slalom * 1st place – 2006 Desert Dog Bowl Bash * 2nd place – 2006 GVR Etnies Bowl * 1st place – 2006 Mystic Sk8 Cup: Vert * 2nd place – 2006 Oregon Trifecta West Linn, Oregon Bowl * 1st place – 2006 Oregon Trifecta Lincoln City, Oregon Bowl * 2nd place – 2006 WCSK8 World Bowl Rankings * 2nd place – 2006 Vans Pro-Tec Pool Party * 1st place – 2005 Vans Pro-Tec Pool Party * 1st place – 2004 Mystic Sk8 Cup: Vert * 3rd place – 2004 Toronto West 49 Open Vert Best Trick * 3rd place – 2004 Toronto West 49 Open Vert * 1st place – 2004 Gravity Games: Vert * 1st place – 2004 Snickers Bowl Games * 2nd place – 2003 WCSK8 Pro Vert European Rankings * 2nd place – 2003 Globe World Championships Vert * 1st place – 2003 Scandinavian Open: Vert * 1st place – 2003 Tampa Pro: Vert * 2nd place – 2002 Pro Vert European Rankings * 1st place – 2002 Scandinavian Open: Vert * Ranked 1st; World Champion Skateboarding Vert 2001 * 1st place – 2001 Scandinavian Open: Vert * 1st place – 2001 Gravity Games: Vert * 1st place – 1998 Slam City Jam: Vert * 1st place – 1996 Slam City Jam: Vert

References

External links

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Rune Glifberg
at The Boardr {{DEFAULTSORT:Glifberg, Rune 1974 births Living people Danish skateboarders X Games competitors Skateboarders at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic skateboarders for Denmark Danish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Sportspeople from Copenhagen