Introduction by Martin van Drunen
Interview & photography by Dominic Swagemakers
Shortly introduce yourself, please.
I‘m Giorgio Oehlers from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. I‘m 20 years old and have been rolling around for about 12 years now! My sponsors are Remz, Grindhouse and Skateland. Thanks for their support!
Any specialties about your setup?
Not really anything special but I hope to ride those new Haffeys soon!
You have been living in Rotterdam all your life already, right? Many people think Rotterdam is the best place to rollerblade in the Netherlands. It has a lot of street spots, big outdoor skateparks, an indoor skatepark. How do you see this yourself?
It‘s true if you say it‘s like that but I‘ve been skating in Rotterdam for such a long time that it‘s hard for me to enjoy any of the spots ‘cause I‘ve skated all of them many times. I think Amsterdam has better street spots, but the cool thing about The Netherlands is that it‘s so small. It‘s easy to travel from one city to another to skate only the perfect spots.
Such a lot of places to skate must have lead to a big group of skaters. Unfortunately the truth is different and Rotterdam has just a few guys that form the core. What is the reason for this you think and do you see any changes?
I don‘t really know what the reason for that is. When I was growing up there was a bigger group of core riders but when most of them reached the age of 16 they had other interests or other hobbies. At that time I didn‘t really have anything else to do so I just kept rollerblading! The core at the moment consists of Martin van Drunen, Max van Hooren and me. For a while even Martin and Max were doing other stuff besides rollerblading but luckily they gained senses and started again. Right now I see a lot of new kids rollerblading in Rotterdam so I think it‘s going to be okay with the new generation over here.
Backside backslide
Alley Oop Topside Pornstar
You‘ve been in New York and all the famous places in Europe. But where do you want to go next to rollerblade and why?
It doesn‘t really matter as long as it has some good spots to skate. I would love to go back to New York, Rollerblading is alive over there! In some way it really reminds me of Rotterdam. It‘s really easy to hop on the subway and go anywhere. San Diego and the rest of the Californian region would be cool, too. But I‘ve heard that the spots are far apart from each other and it‘s not that cool without a car, so New York seems like the perfect solution.
You have reached the podium of many Dutch and European contests. Do you feel special about this? Do you brag about it outside the rollerblading community? I remember people on the street recognizing you after your appearance in a Dutch TV show.
Hahaha, I never brag, a lot of people in my class don‘t even know that I rollerblade. I don‘t really feel special about it. Of course it‘s great to win something, but luckily rollerblading isn‘t a contest type of sport – it‘s all about enjoying yourself.
Truespin Topside Pornstar
Safety gap over rail into bank
Next to rollerblading, you are into filming, editing and producing your own music. Anything you want to achieve with this in the future?
Right now I‘m in the final year of my video editing studies but I am not sure what I am going to do afterwards. Hopefully I will be able to make money with editing jobs. Next to that I am a beat maker/producer indeed. On this level I am working with a few big names in the Netherlands. I am going to drop a little instrumental album online soon, so be on the look-out for that!
Can we expect a Rollerdam Vol. 3? Any information about that already?
We are definitely going to release a new Rollerdam video but I don‘t want to hurry. We are going to take our time to make it as perfect as possible. I have some ideas about the content already. Of course Martin van Drunen, Max van Hooren and myself will have a profile again but I am thinking about two more. The names of these riders are still secret for the moment though.
Backside Fahrvergnügen 630° out
Fishbrain
What‘s the most amazing and/or memorable thing that happened to you/with you while rollerblading? The thing that stands out above the rest?
One of the moments is the Winterclash in the year that I won the AM contest. Of course winning the contest gave it an extra good feeling but that whole weekend was great! That year was the only year the whole Rollerdam crew was together at the Clash and we just had the best time ever! I can truly say that was the best weekend of my life! My two visits to Barcelona and the one to New York were also amazing! Just being in a different city with your best friends, doing what you love is such a dope experience!
As you said you won the Winterclash AM contest a few years ago. This year the Winterclash is going to be in Eindhoven, can we expect something from you again?
Haha, I don‘t know. I‘m just going to skate and we‘ll see what happens.
Any names you would bet on for this years Winterclash?
If they are going to attend this year’s Winterclash then my bet is Diego Guilloud for the AM contest and CJ Wellsmore for PRO. Both have been killing it all over the place in 2010!
Backside Unity to Savannah
Be-Mag would like to thank Dominic Swagemakers for his contribution! Make sure you have a look on the amazing pics he produced with Giorgio at their original size. Click on the link on the top right hand corner of the gallery below.
