Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Today the action sports qualifier continued its' contest as ESPN welcomed four more competitors to join the other athletes for a trip to Philadelphia for X Games VIII. The city of Rio de Janeiro embraced the athletes and the free-to-the-public event by showing up extra early for the final day of competition. Crowds surpassed yesterday's high count of 12,000 and more than 14,500 showed up for the exciting final day. For the first time ever at an International Qualifier, Globo (ESPN's partner in televising the LXQ) aired the contest on national television to 30 million households who tuned in to enjoy the halfpipe action from home. Those fans who did not stay at home, stretched as far as 2 kilometers long before the gates opened, some even before sunrise. The competition was located near Aterro do Flamengo which housed the qualifier for four days and included the event's Gold Sponsor interactive area and a stage built for Sao Paulos' musical talents: "Patu fu" and "Superfly". The Latin American X Games Qualifier (LXQ) welcomed more than 200 of the region`s leading action sports athletes to compete for prize money, medals and an invitation to X Games VIII in Philadelphia, USA, in August. Athletes competed in four sport categories: Skateboarding, Bicycle Stunt, Aggressive In-line Skating and Wakeboarding.

The 2002 LXQ advanced seven athletes to compete at the big show in Philadelphia, X Games VIII: Samuel Shinogaki (bicycle stunt park), Marcos de Jesus (bicycle stunt flatland), Rodolfo Ramos (skateboard park), Lincoln Ueda (skateboard vert), Dalmo Travaguni (aggressive in-line park), Marco di Santi (aggressive in-line vert)), Rafeal Shigueo Kamogawa (wakeboard).

Bicycle Stunt held the Park final today as sport organizers watched, for the first time, the BMX Latin American talent take to the course. Sao Paulo's Samuel Shinogaki, who qualified in 2nd after the preliminary round last night, brought his hometown a gold medal, and now with hopes of repeating his winning performance in Philadelphia at X Games VIII. The number one rider going into the finals today, Gabriel Mastragostino of Buenos Aires, Argentina, who after his last run, took off his bike jersey revealing to the Brazilians his Argentine football jersey, followed Shinogaki closely behind with only a 2 and ½ point margin. Chile's Jorge Francisco Contreras, missed the silver by a mere four tenths of a point.

Pro Vert Demo concluded tonight as one of the last attractions to the LXQ. Matt "The Condor" Hoffman said goodbye to his Brazilian fans in style. Attempting the 900 (2 and ½ rotations) wasn't in The Condor's planned runs. Toward the end of the session, Hoffman looked over to the stands where he saw several riders, who he had met and worked with in the past, had written '900' on their chests. Chanting "900. 900. Matt, do the 900!" And he did. Beautifully. Bicycle Stunt Sport Organizer, Steve Swope said that Hoffman has landed two 900's in the last eight years: X Games VII last year in Philadelphia and tonight here in Rio de Janeiro.

Skateboarding, in general, over the last four days has been looked at by sport organizers, spectators and the athletes themselves as possibly the best skating written in the books. Added to today's phenomenal skating on the vert, "Today's coverage of the skateboard vert competition was the highest rating ever for the program "Sports Spectacular" on Globo Televsion," said Marcelo G. de Campos Pinto from Ready Globo. Those spectators watching the taping of the show LIVE, were pumped and anxious to get the contest underway. Chanting each finalist by name or nicknames they had given their hometown heroes seemed to get the skaters on the ramp quicker and higher.. Skateboard favorite and already an X Games veteran, Lincoln Ueda of Guarulhos, Brazil, did what he came to do and win the gold medal for his homecountry. Companion and long-time skate buddy of Ueda, Sao Paolo's Sandro Dias proudly took 2nd and congratulated Lincoln for his invitation to X Games VIII.

Aggressive In-line Skating completed its' vert final today and Brazil couldn't have been prouder to have the number one female skater in the world, Fabiola da Silva, perform in front of them in her homecountry. Da Silva showed no sign of intimidation or pressure to compete alongside the male skaters. In fact, her confidence today on the halfpipe was so strong that it found Da Silva in the number one seed going into finals. Because Marco de Santi had a cleaner 2nd run than Da Silva, the gold and the trip to Philadelphia goes to the Sao Paulo native.

ESPN and Globo partnered in televising the first-ever Latin American X Games Qualifier. ESPN International, which has staged X Games-related events outside of the United States since 1996, will be the primary organizer of the competition. Globo televised a minimum of three hours of the event live during its` "Sports Spectacular" program on Sunday, March 24th. Five hours of original programming will be televises on ESPN Brazil, ESPN2, Globo Programming and ESPN International networks around the world.

The LXQ I welcomed adidas, Mastercard and timnet as Gold Sponsors for the first-ever Latin American X Games Qualifier.

Within the last 12 months, more than a dozen X Games-related events have been staged around the world, including X Games Qualifiers in Barcelona, Malaysia and six Asian Xtour cities including a first-time visit to China.

The LXQ I welcomes adidas, Mastercard and timnet as Gold Sponsors for the first-ever Latin American X Games Qualifier.

Within the last 12 months, more than a dozen X Games-related events have been staged around the world, including X Games Qualifiers in Barcelona, Malaysia and six Asian Xtour cities including a first-time visit to China.

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