Extreme sports set to wow crowds in Shanghai
Print Edition
THE 2015 Kia World Extreme Games kicks off this weekend with the “Oriental Pearl Jam,” an opening event that will take place in front of Shanghai’s landmark Oriental Pearl TV Tower.
This year’s event will expand to multiple venues. Some BMX and skateboard competitions will be staged on April 28-29 at newly designed courses in front of the TV tower.
Organizers hope the new downtown venues will help attract more fans to the extreme games and provide viewers with a unique experience.
Other events will be held at the KIC Jiangwan Sports Center in Yangpu District from May 1 to 3.
Let’s learn more about some of the extreme sports making their way to Shanghai.
Skateboard
Surfing is the biological father of skateboarding. During the late 1950s and into the 1960s, American surfing music and movies fuelled the trend. Youngsters began to look for ways to recreate the feeling of riding a wave on land. Soon, they started to experiment with surfboard-like designs.
The first commercial skateboard, the Roller Derby, hit store shelves in 1959. Key advances in the sport included moves like the aerial, the invert and the Ollie, which might be the single most important trick in the evolution of skateboarding, next to the kick-flip.
Speed Climbing
Mountaineering, the original form of climbing, dates back to the late 1700s, when French adventurers reached the peak of Mont Blanc (4,500 meters). Around that time, mountaineering evolved into “rock climbing” as climbers shifted their focus to long crack lines on soaring stone walls.
Bouldering (climbing small rocks without a rope for protection) saw a surge of popularity until it became a sport of its own. Again, the French evolved climbing even further into “sport climbing.”
Instead of placing gear for each climb and then removing it after the climb was over, the French began to “bolt” climbs with permanent fixtures. Now climbing was safer than ever before and climbers could focus solely on overcoming the technical difficulties along the route.
BMX Freestyle
This evolved from BMX (bicycle motocross) racing in the early 1980s. BMX racing has been around since the 1970s, with the first official BMX heavy-duty bike frames replacing traditional modified Stingrays in 1973.
The year 1983 saw the first freestyle bikes come off the production line. Freestyle competitions were held in skate parks beginning in 1984. By 1986, sponsorship started to pour into freestyle. Throughout the 1990s, racing grew in popularity until it had become a sizable, established sport.
Freestyle Motocross (FMX)
Freestyle Motocross, together with Aggressive In-Live Skating, will be introduced as exhibition sports at this year’s event.
FMX is a variation on the sport of motocross in which motorcycle riders attempt to impress spectators with jumps and stunts. Motocross burst onto the world sporting scene in the 1980s and then grew in mainstream popularity throughout the 1990s.
The athletes
The 2015 Kia World Extreme Games will bring together more than 150 athletes from 25 countries and regions.
Let’s meet some of the extreme sport elite athletes who will take part in this year’s competitions.
Chris Cole, USA
At 33 years old, Cole is considered one of skateboarding’s elite. He has been twice named “Skater of the Year” by Thrasher Skateboard magazine and is also a five-time gold medalist in the X Game. He is competing in the Kia World Extreme Games for the very first time.
Tom Asta, USA
Asta, 25, is a new legend in skateboarding. Since turning pro back in March 2011, he broke onto the Street League Skateboarding scene in 2014. Asta also is competing in the Kia World Extreme Games for the first time.
Morgan Wade, USA
The 31-year-old Wade is a professional BMX Freestyle rider. Wade took top prize in the X Games Los Angeles in 2013 and later came second in the X Games Austin 2014 BMX Big Air. He is riding for the first time at the Kia World Extreme Games this year.
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