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The History of Extreme Sports
Extreme Sports. We all know the images and ideals that these two little words conjure up when put together. Adrenalin. No Fear. Human v Nature. Liklihood of severe injury - High. Yet for those of us who embrace extreme sports these things are gagged, tied up and pushed into the dark recesses of our brains and all we know is the excitement and passion for doing them. The over-arching name 'Extreme Sports' is banded about very freely nowadays and it has become a houshold term in our daily language, even my ancient relatives know what I'm talking about. So my 2 main questions are: Where did these 'extreme sports' spring from and how long have they been around?
Well the answer is: They're OLD! Maybe we haven't always called them 'extreme' or 'sports' but the fact is people have always attempted to push the physical boundaries. Wikipedia will tell you that 'Extreme Sports' really picked up pace in the 1950's, and although this is true to some degree, it is also true to say that us human lot have been doing bloody psychotic things for centuries!
Clockwise from top left: seaboldvintagemarket.blogspot.com, superstock.com, life.com, superstock.com
So what is the definition of an extreme sport?
Collins Dictionary states: "Any of various sports with a high risk of injury or death" Alrighty, glad we cleared that up, but what do others say?
Dictionary.com states "Any athletic endeavor considered more dangerous than others, such as bungee jumping, snowboarding; also called action sport" Okay, well that's a little different from the previous bumpf but we'll go with it...
Macmillan Dictionary states: "A sport or activity that is exciting and dangerous, for example bungee jumping, white-water rafting, or snowboarding." Erm...
So the definitions are quite different from 'death' to 'danger' to 'excitement'. And the truth is that the definition of 'extreme sport' is continuously evolving. During the 1970-80's, only sports such as white-water rafting where death wasn't unusual would have of been considered extreme. Today you can buy a white-water rafting lesson on lastminute.com and not bat an eyelash. The definition has evolved over the past 3 decades to include sports that offer an element of danger but an adrenaline rush too.
Sports which have gained a reputation of being 'extreme' are sometimes a variation of a safer sport that is performed at a greater level of difficulty and with more danger attached. An example of this type of extreme sport would be mountain biking - while bicycling is often considered to be relatively safe, the modification of adding a high speed downhill though a wooded terrain with jumps would not be considered safe for the average bicyclist and although skiing is relatively common place nowadays with little kids showing us all up on the slopes, skiing off piste is not for the faint-hearted and is considered 'extreme' due to its' element of danger.
The one thing which all extreme sports share is the unpredictability element. This is usually dictated by weather, environment and terrain. These are all to varying degrees, uncontrollable variables when practicing an extreme sport and it is these natural uncontrollable phenomena which separate 'sports' from 'extreme sports'. For example: A high-jumper, although tremendously strong, athletic and in peak physical fitness is able to control their environment, however snowboarders have to be aware of the snow conditions, rock and ice quality for climbers and wave height, shape and intensity for surfers, see what I mean?
Images courtesy of: seekextreme.com and blog.hotelclub.com
In 2004, Joe Tomlinson author of the 'Ultimate Encyclopedia of Extreme Sports' classified extreme sports into those that take place in air, land, and water
Nine air sports are mentioned including: BASE jumping, bungee jumping, gliding, hang gliding, high wire, ski jumping, sky diving, sky surfing, and sky flying.
Eighteen land sports including:indoor climbing, adventure racing, aggressive inline skating, BMX, caving, extreme motocross, extreme skiing, freestyle skiing, land and ice yachting, mountain biking, mountain boarding, outdoor climbing, sandboarding, skateboarding, snowboarding, snowmobiling, speed biking, speed skiing, scootering and street luge.
Fifteen water sports including: barefoot water skiing, cliff diving, free-diving, jet skiing, open water swimming, powerboat racing, round the world yacht racing, scuba diving, snorkeling, speed sailing, surfing, wakeboarding, whitewater kayaking, windsurfing.
But this list isn't exhaustive, new extreme sports are being added all the time, such as wingsurfing, parahawking, heliboarding, paintballing.
Professionals in Extreme Sports
The X Games must be credited in bringing extreme sports into our living rooms and have certainly helped young kids take up these more extreme sports, there's almost not a pavement (sidewalk to you folks across the pond) in the world that hasn't been skateboarded by a tween. The popularity of extreme being spelled 'Xtreme' is almost certainly thanks to the X Games, type Xtreme sports blog or extreme sports blog into your browser and and you'll get a plethora of sites dedicated to adventure sports.
The Winter X Games are currently held at Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado and the Summer X Games will be held at the Staples Centre in L.A this year.
About the Author
Liv Williams is a 28 year old extreme sports fanatic, who enjoys researching urban sports and dangerous activities for her extreme sports blog which she writes with wit and an easy reading style. She won the Junior Welsh Triathlon Championships in 2000 and 2001, surfs, snowboards, is learning to fly a helicopter and makes her own extreme sports films. She has lived in New Zealand where she surfed everyday and now resides in Cornwall. She worked for the BBC in London for 3 years making programmes for BBC2 and BBC3. She supports organisations such as Surfers Against Sewage and presents extreme sports programmes for the web as well as writing treatments for TV.
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