X GAMES Xplained
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BMX Freestyle Freestyle, or Bicycle Stunt riding, evolved from BMX (bicycle motocross) racing in the early 1980s. Racing has been around since the 70s, with the first official BMX heavy-duty bike frames replacing the traditional modified Stingrays in 1973. 1983 saw the first exclusively freestyle bikes coming off the production line. By 1984 some of the first freestyle competitions were held in skate parks. By 1986 sponsorship began pouring into freestyle. Throughout the 1970s racing grew in popularity until it had become a sizeable, established sport. |
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Skateboard Surfing is the biological father of skateboarding. During the late 50s and into the 60s American surfing music and movies fuelled the trend. Kids began to look for ways to recreate the feeling of riding a wave on land. Soon they were experimenting with surfboard-like designs. The first commercial skateboard, the Roller Derby, hit store shelves in 1959. Key advances in the sport included the aerial, the invert and the Ollie, which may be the single most important trick in the evolution of skateboarding, next to the kickturn. |
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Aggressive In-Line The basic idea for in-line roller skates has been around for about 300 years, when a 17th-century Dutchman tried to simulate ice skating in the summer by nailing wooden spools to strips of wood and attaching them to his shoes. Throughout the 1990s a series of in-line competitions 1995 also saw the first ESPN Extreme Games in Newport, Rhode Island. This marked the first time the sport got mainstream, worldwide media attention. In line with this sudden notoriety came a boom in sponsorship for pro skaters. Today, in-line skating ranks as the fifth-largest participatory sport in the US and the number one participatory sport among 6-17 year-old-males. |
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Sport Climbing Mountaineering, the original form of climbing, dates back to the late 1700s, when the French reached the peak of Mont Blanc (4,500 meters). Around this time, mountaineering evolved into rock climbing as climbers turned their focus to long crack lines on soaring stone walls. Bouldering (climbing small rocks without a rope for protection) saw a surge of popularity, until it became a sport in its own right. Once again, the French evolved climbing even further with sport climbing. Instead of placing gear for each climb and then removing it after the climb was over, the French began to bolt climbs with permanent fixtures. Now climbing was safer than ever before and climbers could focus solely on overcoming the technical difficulties of the route. |
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Moto X Motocross racing was born in Europe after World War II and has since grown into a true global phenomenon as well as an integral part of America’s passion for motorsports. The popularity of motocross burst into the scene in the 1980s, became more mainstream in the 1990s and was added to the X Games roster in 1999. Big Air (also known as Best Trick), in which each rider gets three jumps usually covering more than 60 feet (18 m) from a dirt-covered ramp. |
