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TV Guide, June 1999 The Extreme Team Meet the men and women who put the X in the X Games. By Bruce Kluger
competition—will celebrate its fifth anniversary, reaffirming what is now referred to in TV circles as the Conan O’Brien Rule: If you’re on the air for four years, you’re still getting your sea legs; when you make it to year five, you’ve arrived.
This year more than 450 of the world’s most pumped and primed athletes will converge on San Francisco to compete in nine different extreme sport categories and 24 disciplines—from aggressive in-line skating, stunt biking and skateboarding to street luge, sky-surfing and big-air snowboarding. Over the last half-decade, the Games have expanded their worldwide reach, becoming a bona fide franchise that includes televised trial events, international exhibitions, CDs, books—and, of course, the Games themselves. This week, ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC will broadcast almost 40 hours of the Games, as ESPN’s international distributor simultaneously whips the signal around the globe. But what good is an event like this without a few stars to keep fans in their seats? Of the army of hopped-up hopefuls who will descend on California this week, we’ve picked seven who are sure to deliver the goods. Fasten your seat belts, sports fans.... Fabiola Da Silva Age: 19 Born: São Paulo, Brazil Competition: In-Line Skating (Vert)
America. Fabiola da Silva was barely 16 when she stumbled onto the sport that would one day bring her worldwide fame. She’d been tooling around her neighborhood skate park in São Paulo when she caught the eye of professional in-liner Chris Edwards, who quickly spread the word about the girl with the dazzling moves—and looks. Soon Fabiola
Association (ASA); and when she entered her first X Games in 1996, she never looked back: At this year’s Games she’ll go for an unprecedented fourth consecutive gold medal in the women’s vertical (also know as the fearsome half- pipe). “Every year the level of competition gets higher,” says the diminutive Fabiola, who is looked upon by the other women in her sport as a role-model and undisputed queen of the vert. “That means we’ve got to keep learning new tricks.” When she’s not in competition—which is rare—Fabiola tries to lead a normal life in Santa Rosa, CA, going to the movies (“I love Julia Roberts”), clothes shopping (“I’m sponsored by Gap, so I buy Gap”), and spending time with her boyfriend, who is also a professional in-line skater. “He won’t be competing at the X Games this year because he didn’t qualify,” explains Fabiola. “But he’s nice about it. He’s a pro.”
Age: 15 Born: San Luis Obispo, CA Competition: In-Line Skating (Street)
competitors, 15-year-old Jenny Curry is clearly on a fast track. In just three years, she’s soared from amateur to pro, collecting a raft of medals along the way in national and international meets, including a Gold in the 1998 X Games. She’ll defend that title this year skating her trademark category: women’s street, the wild, scrappy cousin of the vert and downhill events. “Basically you skate through lots of ramps and rails, and have 60 seconds to do as many tricks as you can,” she says. “With all the spins and flips, you have to be fit and you have to
street-skate where I live,” she confesses, “but I take my chances”), and even manages to find time for a personal life (she’s currently mid-courtship with a boy she likes—via email). Yet while she projects that inimitable bearing that comes with being a sports superstar, Curry can’t help but let the teenager peek through on occasion:. Her most memorable moment in the ’98 Games, for example, was not a near-spill nor her gold medal victory. Rather, it was when “all the other girls and I bought the same ugly green checkered golf pants and wore them on live TV during the competition. It was a riot.”
Age: 30 Born: Lavallette, NJ Competition: Street Luge
his rivals, and is known for his ear- piercing “Woooo!” when he lands a victory—which is often. Biker Sherlock returns to the X Games this week to see if he can add more medals to the four golds and two silvers he’s racked up since first entering the Games in
from aircraft aluminum and capable of reaching speeds of 70 miles-per-hour. “I’d already been competing in downhill skateboarding when I was first introduced to the luge,” remembers Sherlock, “and I said to myself, ‘Hey, I’ve been doing the same thing standing up.’ After one day on the luge, none of my friends could beat me. Four months later, I won the gold at the X Games.” Sherlock, whose real love is big wave surfing, likes to hone his luge skills on the canyon roads of an Indian reservation an hour from his San Diego home. Off-course he runs his own skateboard and event promotion companies, both of which he launched with his girlfriend, Amy. This year, fans expect Sherlock to pour it on at the Games, after being upstaged in ’98 by good buddy Rat Sult, who took two golds to Biker’s one. But Sherlock keeps it all in perspective. “I’m not about winning,” he says. “Sure there’s a toggle switch in your head that flicks on the competition whenever a race begins. But the next day it’s back to surfing with your friends.” Andy Macdonald Age: 25 Born: Boston, MA Competition: Skateboarding
disconcerting to me,” insists Andy Macdonald. “It has nothing to do with sky- surfing or barefoot waterskiing or that glorified butt-boarding they call the street luge. I mean, I don’t want to sound like I’m trash-talking, but skateboarding is a serious sport that deserves its own venue.” Despite his protests, Macdonald has helped establish his chosen competition as the most eagerly
rival Andy Hawk (see box), Macdonald and his board have dominated the X Games since their inception in 1995, piling up four golds and two silvers in all three skateboard events. And because of his ambidexterity (he skates both vert and street), he has often been ranked as the world’s best skateboarder—period. “Mom bought me my first board for Christmas when I was 14,” says Macdonald, whose signature style includes technical proficiency coupled with tightly strung together flips and tricks. “I’ve been competing ever since I learned that the local skate shop held contests in its back parking lot.” Unlike many in his sport, Macdonald, who lives in San Diego, doesn’t intend to open his own skateboarding business one day (“I barely have enough time to spend with my girlfriend,” he says). But that doesn’t stop him from passing along his magic at workshops and skate camps. “There’s nothing in the world like watching kids make their first drop-in from a twelve-foot ramp,” he says. “Their faces light up like you wouldn’t believe.”
Age: 28 Born: Buffalo, NY Competition: Big Air Snowboarding
snowboarding beauty from Vail, CO, had effortlessly tallied gold and silver medals in a host of events at the Colorado-based Winter X Games, she wasn’t sure the technology was up to transplanting her specialty—the Big Air event—to the Summer Games in California. “I’m used to riding on real snow,” says Christy, “and I was hesitant about making the transition to a manmade structure covered with snow carpet and ice chips. So I sat out the ’ 97 and ‘98 Summer Games.” Which makes her debut in the Big Air event this week in San Francisco that much more exciting. Having competed in pro snowboard competitions as far back as 1993 (“not during the sport’s infancy,” says Christy, “but definitely during its toddler
career that has taken her from the U.S. Open to the X Games to the 1998 Winter Olympics. “I didn’t do so well in Nagano,” she confesses. “I folded under pressure and the weather wasn’t so great, either.” That hasn’t dampened her spirit one bit. In addition to tackling the Summer X Games, Christy is maintaining close ties with her sponsor, Nike, which has featured her in its commercials (yes, that was Christy boarding off a building in a recent campaign) and is working with her on developing a special snowboard boot. And to answer the million-dollar question, gentlemen: Yep, she’s taken. “My boyfriend is also a snowboarder,” Christy admits. “To be honest, no one outside the sport would put up with all this.” Dave Mirra Age: 25 Born: Syracuse, NY Competition: Bicycle Stunts
He has lost his spleen in a bike accident, been hit by a car, and endured countless bodily injuries in pursuit of perfecting his craft. And yet he keeps on winning. When Dave Mirra climbs aboard his stunt bike at this week’s X Games, he hopes to continue a streak that has landed him a staggering eight medals—six gold, two silver—since ESPN christened the games in 1995. When he copped gold in last year’s street competition, he joined in- line whiz Fabiola da Silva as the only other athlete
consistency,” says Mirra, who began racing dirt bikes at 10 and competing on ramps at 13. “I can put a run together pretty well, and that takes both technical knowledge and confidence.” Although in his routines Mirra will nonchalantly string together mesmerizing moves—a 360-degree spin, say, followed by a double tail whip and a peg stand atop a 14-foot wall—he knows firsthand that big stunts aren’t always the key to victory. “There are a few competitors out there who ride bigger than me,” he explains, “but if they crash it’s all over. So you have to know when to ride big and when to pull it in.” It’s also in his best interest to play it safe, after all his many sponsors—among them Adidas, Slim Jim and Haro cycles (which has issued the Mirra signature bike)—need him in one piece. Off wheels, Mirra passes time planting trees on the lawn of his Greenville, NC, home, and kicking back with his girlfriend, a competing gymnast. “I've come to enjoy the domesticated life,” he says. Until the next race, that is. Tony Hawk Age: 31 Born: San Diego, CA Competition: Skateboarding
see at the X Games. Alternately referred to as “the Michael Jordan of skateboarding,” and “skater of the decade,” Tony Hawk has dominated his sport for the past 16 years, magically willing his 32-by-9- inch slab of laminated maple to do his bidding on the giant slopes of the half-pipe. His stock in trade is an endless parade of personally coined stunts— from the Madonna to the Stale Fish to the “720” (a 360-degree mid-air somersault done twice)—all of which leave judges and fans shaking their heads in disbelief. He has medaled in virtually every major tournament around the world; and has evenly shared top honors with his friend and frequent
says Hawk, “the intensity and focus of skateboarding is diluted during the X Games because of all the other extreme events featured there. On the other hand,” he quickly adds, “the Games give us more media exposure than any other tournament worldwide, so we’re more than happy to rise to the occasion.” Off the ramp, Hawk is no less versatile than his four-wheeled alter ego. He and his board have adorned an endless stream of ad campaigns—from AT&T to Gatorade to Got Milk?—and his company, Birdhouse Projects, has become a mini-juggernaut, producing quality skateboards and skating apparel. He and his wife live in San Diego with their two small sons—both of whom have skateboards in their future.
In a week crammed with edge-of-your-seat action, here’s what promises to be the edgiest. “A lot of people don’t know this,” says Andy Macdonald, trying to keep a straight face, “but Tony Hawk and I made a deal back in 1995. We decided to take turns winning the vertical singles in the X Games.” Macdonald is joking, of course, but from way the record book reads, a secret pact certainly seems plausible. Since the X Games’ launch in 1995, Macdonald and Hawk—the Games’ undisputed board kings—have evenly shared the gold medal for the men’s vert singles, Hawk winning it in ’95 and ’97, Macdonald taking the honors in ’96 and last year. And to add poetry to the symmetry, the team of Hawk and Macdonald have easily iced the gold in the doubles vert, ever since that event was added in 1997. Consequently, as every sports enthusiast knows, that makes the men’s single vert at the ‘99 Games the all-important rubber match. But don’t tell that to the boys. “The media likes to make us rivals,” says Macdonald, “but the truth is, we’re buddies—always have been. We participate in the same sport, we’re endorsed by the same company (Swatch), we’re even partners in the doubles event.” Hawk concurs. “It truly is coincidental that the golds in the singles have broken down the way they do. Andy and I genuinely don’t have a rivalry. Look,” he continues, “the whole skateboarding team performs around the world with each other. We’re like this giant traveling summer camp. We all root for each other, with no animosity. I think the media needs to create this tension to keep people interested.” Uh-huh. Like we said, the vert singles is the one to watch. |
Boys on board: Champs Tony Hawk (left) and Andy Macdonald will face-off again in the high-flying men's vert.
