I like to skate. Specifically inline skating! What about you?
I used to love inline skating as a kid. Is it still popular these days?
At least in the 1980s! "Life" magazine published a piece on an American skater training for the Olympics.
Oh wow. Way back in the 80's. That is really cool.
Yes! But inline skates have been around since 1849! They were invented by Louis Legrange in France!
I wonder what those looked like? Are there different kinds of modern inline skates?
Inline skates
Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, have a rubber "stop" or "brake" block attached to the rear of one or occasionally both of the skates so that the skater can slow down or stop by leaning back on the foot with the brake skate.
The modern style of inline skates
was developed as a substitute for ice skates, for use by a Russian athlete training on solid ground for Olympic long track speed skating events. "Life" magazine published a photo of American skater Eric Heiden, training for the 1980 Olympics, using such skates on a Wisconsin road.
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rollerblade, Inc., a company founded by Scott and Brennan Olson in Minneapolis, Minnesota, widely promoted inline skating through the registered trademark "Rollerblade".
History.
John Joseph Merlin experimented