SAN FRANCISCO -- Ryan Nyquist crashed on his final run and he and his bike fell into the dirt. And when the dust from his crash disappeared, Nyquist emerged a champion.

Nyquist gives a shout out after taking first.

There can be many adjectives used to describe the performance of Nyquist at the Bike Stunt Dirt Jump Final at the 2000 X Games. Brave. Courageous. Gutsy. Call him what you want, but if you were one of the spectators of this final, you would say that Nyquist deserved to win and showed the heart of a true champion Thursday.

However, this final had it all: Suspense. Drama. Going into the final round, it was anybody's gold. It came down to the wire, and it took a daring trick by Nyquist to win it.

Earlier in the final round, Cory Nastazio took a commanding lead. On his fourth and last run, Nastazio went from a back flip table top to a Superman Seat grab into a Superman Tail whip. This gave him a score of 94, and put him in first place. It seemed like he was in a comfortable position to win the gold. Said Nastazio, "I felt good today. I was flowing."

A jump later, Nyquist was up, and this is when he showed his heart and nerve. Of his last run, Nyquist said, "I tried to put together a run to bring it home for me."

Nyquist came down the ramp and pulled a one-handed X-up, but on his second set, he misjudged his landing and crashed.

"I did the one-handed X-up and came around and everything felt perfect, and at the last second, I hung my back tire, and my feet blew off the pedals, and I ended up jumping over the handle bars. It all worked out in the end, but it would have been nice to have all flawless runs."

This is when the competition got interesting. Instead of giving up, Nyquist got up, got back on his bike and pulled a 720 -- the first one of this X Games competition. This sent the standing-room crowd on Piers 30-32 into a frenzy.

"I had a whole different plan of what I was gonna do, and when I messed up that second jump I figured I might as well go for it. And it worked, and that was awesome. I just hate the fact that I crashed but it ended on a good note," said Nyquist.

Even with the fall, Nyquist managed to score a 91.2, and this vaulted him into first place over Nastazio. First and second places in the competition were decided. But who would take home the bronze medal? Mike Parenti or T.J. Lavin?

Lavin competed after Nyquist and was in fourth place behind Parenti. The pressure was on Lavin to leap ahead of Parenti and take home the bronze.

"Going into my last run, I didn't think that Ryan was up front because he fell, so I thought Nasty (Nastazio) was up front. I figured I would have to try to beat him," said Lavin.

As Lavin waited on top of the approach ramp, the crowd rose to cheer him on. Lavin pulled a smooth no-footed can-can and had a strong tail whip. These tricks scored him a 92.6 and moved him into third place ahead of Parenti.

"I wasn't sure how the points were gonna add up. I just wanted to get through the sections and see what happened. And I came up a little bit short today. They were a little bit better. I am stoked that I came in third. Next year I will get them," said Lavin.

But the true star today was Nyquist. Aside from his unexpected 720, Nyquist performed another trick today that put the crowd on their feet.

"I pulled a trick off today that I am really psyched about. It was a 360 with a triple bar spin. That was awesome for me. I had not done that since 1997. It was seriously one of the best moments of the X Games for me."

For Nyquist, taking home the gold was probably the best moment of them all.

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