Monday, December 20

Asian X Games: X Games History

| History | 99 Summer X Games Review | 99 Summer X Games Results | | Results from 1995 / 96/ 97/ 98/ 99 |
Twice a year millions of television viewers look forward to witnessing cutting edge events of the alternative sports phenomenon, as ESPN's X Games blast off. These signature summer and winter championships, that now feature the cream of world-class athletic talent, grew from an idea conceived on a sofa one Sunday afternoon.

Rhode Island: The early days
ESPN's Director of Programming, Ron Semiao, conceived the idea for ESPN's X-Games on a sofa one Sunday afternoon in 1993.

It occurred to Semiao that extreme sports were emerging not only in a participatory, but also in a competitive nature and he aggressively pursued the "idea of an extreme Olympics".

At the green light from ESPN's innovative management team the monstrous task of staging 27 events in nine sports categories was set in motion. Over 350 athletes from all corners of the world accepted invitations.

The 1995 Extreme Games included: Bungy Jumping, Barefoot Waterski Jumping, Kite Skiing, Windsurfing, Skysurfing, Bicycle Stunt Riding, Mountain Biking, Street Luge, Skateboarding and the Eco-Challenge (an extreme multisport event).

In terms of manpower and technology, the 1995 Extreme Games was the largest single event production in ESPN's history and was held on Rhode Island, United States... it was only to get bigger.

Approximately 115 cameras were used. There were helmet cams, dirt jump cams, point-of-view cameras mounted on top of the climbing wall and half pipe. There were even cameras mounted on the wheels of skateboards and street luge sleds. Heart-rate monitors were hooked up to bungy jumpers and huge Jumbotrons enabled the 133,000 spectators to see everything that was happening in the air and on the ground.

Ultimately, the programming earned a prime-time live rating of 1.1 or 720,000 households per telecast and was nominated for more Sports Emmy awards than any other ESPN broadcast. The 1996 X-Games once again attracted more than 700,000 households per ESPN telecast. Subsequent research showed that the X Games has become the most watched sporting event by males between the age of 12-34 in the United States.

To Cali and Winter Xpansion
During the 1996 X Games, also staged in Rhode Island, ESPN announced the inaugural Winter X-Games at Snow Summit Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, California. Between January 30 and February 2, 1997, over 160 of the world's best winter alternative athletes displayed their talents in Snowboarding, Ice Climbing, Super-Modified Shovel Racing and Snow Mountain Bike Racing, as well as a Cross-Over event that combined slopestyle snowboarding and dryland half-pipe.

The event was a roaring success and has followed the trail blazed by the summer games to become the signature winter alternative sports championship, that now features the world-class athletic talent of more than 200 international athletes competing in snowboarding, ice climbing, snowmobile snocross, freeskiing and snow mountain bike racing.

Just weeks after the 1996 X Games, ESPN announced that the 1997 Summer X Games would be held in San Diego, California (June 21-28). In September the organising staff relocated to San Diego, to organise both winter and summer events from that office.

Summer Snow in San Diego and the move to Crested Butte The 1997 Summer X Games in San Diego was the biggest production to date with over 225,000 spectators attended the weeklong event. One of the highlights was the first-ever summer X Games snowboarding competition on the beaches of San Diego!! The one-day event, featuring a 200' man-made snow jump, attracted more than 9,000 spectators.

The 1998 Winter X Games, were held at Crested Butte, Colorado. (January 15-18) and included six sports categories: snowboarding, free skiing, ice climbing, skiboarding, snow mountain bike racing and snowcross. The 1998 ESPN X Games remained in San Diego and the fourth annual summer event was again staged at Mission Beach on June 19-28 - the snowboarding was there again.

1999: Towards the New Millennium
At the beginning of 1999 the Winter X Games made another appearance at Crested Butte and the cameras caught plenty of carnage as athletes took their runs down the mountain's snow swept slopes on snowmobiles, mountain bikes, boards and skis or scaled the 50' ice wall.

In the new millennium the Winter X Games are headed back East to Vermont where Mount Snow Resort will host the fourth and fifth annual Winter X Games, February 3-6, 2000 and again in 2001.

"ESPN has raised the bar with every X Games-branded event that we have presented, and the 2000 Winter X Games will be no exception," said Jeff Ruhe ESPN senior vice president, event management in announcing the move in May 1999.

X Games V - Spinning on the Dock of the Bay
The 1999 ESPN X Games, the summer version, took place in San Francisco, Calif., from June 25 through July 3, 1999. More than 400 alternative sport athletes competed for close to $1 million in prize money.

There were many defining moments of that event as a record-setting turnout of 268,390 fans watched the Games in the City by the Bay. The fifth X Games may now be over, but the excitement of what happened during those 10 days by the Bay still lingers.

Tony Hawk, the legendary icon of his sport and set the scene astonishingly alight and made history by landing the first 900 in skateboarding history.

Beyond that bicycle stunt legend Matt Hoffman returned to action in the vert competition but Dave "the Wonderboy" Mirra got his fistful of gold again. The Land of the Rising Sun rose to the top in in-line skates and a 15-year-old sensation stole the show in the newest addition to the X Games lineup -- Moto X and the lugers survived the Cliff House Turn.

International Xpansion
With the excitement building over the years at the main events there have been an increasing number of associated tours and events emergent in other corners of the globe

In 1995 a called the Xtreme Xperience and visited 10 cities. In 1996, a sponsor driven extreme sports and music expo called the X Games Road Show visited twelve cities and a further six cities were treated to Destination Extreme, a competition involving bicycle stunt riders, skateboarders and in-line skaters. 1996 also saw two international X Games exhibitions in Brazil and China. In 1997 the tour became the X Trials, and visited six cities as participants accrued point towards qualification for the main event. In 1998 ESPN staged the first officially sanctioned X Games competition in Asia. Thailand Coming off the most successful X Games to date this past June/July 1999 in San Francisco, ESPN continues its significant commitment to the global expansion of the "X" franchise with several events throughout the world in the coming year.

Building on the success of the 1998 Asian X Games qualifier, the Asian X Games will return to Phuket, Thailand in November from 1st - 7th. This now annual event will combine an X Games Qualifier competition with a new grassroots component called the Disney Channel /ESPN Junior X Games.

It's just getting bigger What began as a Sunday afternoon idea has Xploded into a global phenomenon.

For in-depth news and reviews on the 1999 Summer X Games go to http://espn.go.com/extreme/xgames/index.html