The First X-Games

Skateboarding gained a huge popularity increase in the 1990’s with the debut of the Extreme Games. The Extreme Games which was broadcasted by ESPN was conceived in 1993 by the Programming Director for ESPN, Ron Semiao. The idea was to create large gathering of action sports enthusiasts from around the world who would compete against one another in different sports. ESPN commended Semiao and put forth significant resources into creating the event in hopes that it would boost the popularity of action sports. On April 12, 1994, at a press conference in New York City, an announcement was made stating that the first Extreme Games will take place in June of 1995 in Rhode Island and Vermont.

Sure enough, in June of 1995, the Extreme Games began. Around 198,000 fans showed up to witness the first Extreme Games and cheer on their favorite action sports athletes. The Extreme Games started on June 24 and ended on July 1 spanning across four different cities which were Providence, Middletown and Newport, Rhode Island and Mount Snow, Vermont. The event consisted of windsurfing, kite skiing, inline skating, bungee jumping, barefoot-waterskiing, BMX, mountain biking, skateboarding, sky surfing, sport climbing, street luge and the X Venture race.

The X Venture race sent teams of five people on a 250 mile race consisting of sailing, rafting, hiking, mountain climbing and kayaking. The Threadbo team out of Australia won the 1995 X Venture race. Sadly, the X Venture race was short-lived, lasting only 3 more years with the Extreme Games. Vert skateboarder Tony Hawk, who chose to retire a few years before due to the decline in popularity of vert skateboarding, emerged from his retirement at age 27 to compete in the Extreme Games. Justin Sears won the very first Extreme Games gold medal for his barefoot skiing performance which was also short-lived, lasting only four years.

The Extreme Games turned out to be a major hit among young and old alike. It helped boost the popularity of a multitude of action sports from skateboarding and BMX to kayaking and mountain biking. Shortly after the debut of the Extreme Games, it became known as the X-Games and is still held annually every summer and also every winter, the Winter X-Games are held which features sports like snowboarding and skiing. One thing is for certain, the X-Games will remain a staple in the lives of many kids, teens and adults.