A bit of history on the world's premier action sports competition-

1993
ESPN Management decides to devote significant resources to the creation of an international gathering of alternative sport athletes. A team is assembled to develop the concept originated by the ESPN Programming Department and the father of the X Games - Ron Semiao.
1994
ESPN announces that the first Extreme Games will be held in Rhode Island in June 1995.
1995
From June 24 through July 1, the Extreme Games are held in Newport, Providence and Middletown, Rhode Island, and Mount Snow, Vermont. Competitions are held in nine sport categories, including windsurfing, bungee jumping and mountain biking.
198,000 Spectators attended the first Extreme Games, and seven companies, including Advil, Mountain Dew, Taco Bell, Chevy Trucks, AT&T, Nike and Miller Lite Ice, sponsor the event.
ESPN decides to hold the event the following year, based on the success perceived by the athletes, organizers, spectators, producers and sponsors. Rhode Island will again be the venue.
1996
In January, the event name Extreme Games is officially changed to the X Games. Reasons for this are many, namely allowing easier translation to international broadcasters and better branding opportunities.
The X Games Road Show, a two-day touring interactive expo, makes its debut in April - eventually reaching twelve cities including Boston, San Francisco and Miami. In early June the X Games' first international exhibition takes place in Shanghai, China. Exhibitions are performed in bicycle stunt, in-line skating and skateboarding.
In late June approximately 200,000 spectators turn out for the X Games. Kite skiing, windsurfing and mountain biking are all replaced with wakeboarding, while ESPN's Sportszone reports live on the Internet from Rhode Island.
ESPN announces it will hold the first Winter X Games in 1997, Summit Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, California, is named the site for competitions in snowboarding, ice climbing, snow mountain bike racing, shovel racing and a crossover multi-sport.
1997
From January 30 through February 2 the inaugural Winter X Games are broadcast to 198 countries in 21 different languages. More than 38,000 spectators make the trek to Big Bear Lake for four days of competition.
In March the X Trials, a qualifying event for the X Games, gets under way in Providence, Rhode Island. A similar X Trials is held one month later in Orlando, Florida.
From June 20 through June 28, a record crowd of 221,000 fans watches in San Diego and Oceanside as the third annual X Games continues to impress. Big air snowboarding replaces bungy jumping and amazes San Diegans with a 10-story jump on the beach. That same month the X Games Xperience is held at Disneyland Paris, France.
In December, citing overwhelming success, the X Games are officially invited back to San Diego for 1998 by Mayor Susan Golding.
1998
In January 25,000 spectators gather over four days in Crested Butte, Colorado for the second annual Winter X Games. New sports include freeskiing, snowmobile snocross and skiboarding.
In April, the first international X Games qualifying event is held in Phuket Island, Thailand. The Asian X Games Qualifier features 200 athletes from the Pacific Rim competing for a limited number of spots in the San Diego X Games.
In May, the second year of X Trials competition begins. The 1998 X Trials appear in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, and continue to verify the belief that interest in alternative sports is growing rapidly across the country.
In June the X Games tops its attendance mark for the fourth consecutive year. More than 233,000 spectators flock to Mariner's Point in San Diego for the fourth annual X Games.
1999
Crested Butte is the site once again for the third annual Winter X Games. More than 30,000 attend the event in January, which features more disciplines, including women's freeskiing, yet no new sports.
In late April and early May, the third year of the X Trials qualifiers take place in Louisville, Kentucky and Richmond, Virginia. Crowds top 30,000 for the four-day events. A promotional tour, the Xperience, takes place in conjunction with the competitions.
From June 27 to July 4, the San Francisco X Games attract nearly 275,000 spectators - who are treated to Tony Hawk's first Skateboarding 900 and the X Games debut of MotoX.
In November the tropical paradise of Phuket Island, Thailand again plays host to more than 250 athletes competing in the Asian X Games Qualifier presented by TOYOTA. It is also the venue for the inaugural Disney Channel/ESPN Junior X Games presented by TOYOTA. Created to encourage friendly competition among kids, the Junior X Games attracts more than 80 competitors aged 14 years and under, from Asia and Australia.
2000
The Winter X Games takes place February 3rd - 6th in Mount Snow, Vermont. The first Winter X of the millennium features the largest crowd to date and the first appearance of the event on the East Coast. With the new snowboarding Superpipe competition thrown into the mix of favourites such as snowboarding big air, snowboarderX and slopestyle, freeskiing, skiboarding, snocross, and snow mountain bike racing, the 2000 Winter X Games draws over 83,500 spectators.
From March through June, the ESPN B3 and X Trials events get under way across the country, qualifying athletes to compete in the 2000 X Games in San Francisco. Beginning in Lake Havasu, Arizona, revisiting Louisville Kentucky and St. Petersburg Florida and ending in Nashville Tennessee, ESPN's B3 and X Trials events are the most successful to date.
The 2000 X Games once again bring together more than 350 of the world's best alternative sport athletes in San Francisco, California. Between August 17-22, they compete for nearly US$ 1 million in prize money and medals. At the 2000 X Games ESPN announce their International Global expansion of the X Games with 5 X Games Qualifying events in 5 continents scheduled for 2001.
August also sees the debut of the Asian Xtour presented by TOYOTA - a series of qualifiers to select athletes for the 2000 Asian X Games Qualifier and Disney Channel/ESPN Junior X Games presented by TOYOTA, to be held in December. Stops include Bangkok (12-14 August), Taipei (2-3 September) and Singapore (7-8 October).
Once again, Phuket Island is the site of the 2000 Asian X Games Qualifier and Disney Channel/ESPN Junior X Games presented by TOYOTA.
8 December 2000
At the 2000 Asian X Games Qualifier presented by TOYOTA ESPN announced that Malaysia had been selected to host the 2002 - 2004 Asian X Games Qualifier and Junior X Games events.

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