INTRODUCTION Extreme athletes push their sports to the limit 4
Snowboarders flip spin and twist their way down giant ramps Motocross riders soar through the air And surfers bicycle motocross BMX riders skateboarders and others amaze fans with their fantastic tricks Who are the legends of action sports They are the men and women who have taken their sports to a new level They have landed tricks that no one thought possible They have pulled off the most difficult technical feats and made them look easy And they have turned small little-known sports into mainstream sensations Here are some of the best extreme sports stars of all time 5
TONY HAWK 6 Tony Hawk had something special planned for the best trick competition at the 1999 X Games The skateboarding sensation did not want to just do something amazing He wanted to make history Hawk dropped into the vert ramp and built up his speed Then he launched himself into the air He spun 900 degrees two and a half spins in midair No vert skater had ever landed a 900 in competition Hawk wanted to be the first But he crashed Again and again Hawk tried to land the 900 Ten straight times he failed He was out of time Hawk’s chance to land a 900 in competition was over But he still went for it one more time He whizzed down the ramp on his board in a blur of motion launched himself and started spinning Tony Hawk slides along a rail during vert practice at the 2003 X Games
