Extreme sports is the generic label used for sports that in some way go beyond—in endurance, testing the limits, or danger—traditional sports. The label was promoted in the 1990s by athletes, promoters, the sports equipment industry, and advertisers to bring mainstream attention to these sports and, at the same time, to differentiate them from related sports.

While most sports now classified as extreme have all existed for some time and most have governing bodies and regional and world competitions, extreme sports as a category of sports achieved their highest level of public exposure in 1995 with the First Extreme Games held in June in Newport, Rhode Island. These games were given 45 hours of week-long coverage on the ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) cable network and have been popular ever since. The games included street luge, eco-challenge, skysurfing, sport climbing, barefoot water ski jumping, in-line skating, BMX dirt biking, mountain biking, and bungy jumping.

http://www.epictv.com/?gclid=CPKA5Jn_u7gCFche3god2A8AgA

To some extent, all of these sports are extensions of already existing sports or recreational activities:

http://www.nerverush.com/extreme-sports-list/

street luge—skateboarding, roller skating, luge, tobogganing

eco-challenge—orienteering, canoeing, rafting,

kayaking, swimming

skysurfing—sky diving, surfing

sport climbing—rock climbing

barefoot water ski jumping—water ski jumping,

trick water skiing

in-line skating—roller skating, skateboarding

BMX dirt biking—bicycle racing,motorcross

mountain biking—bicycle racing, cross-country

racing

bungy jumping—diving

What differentiates these sports from the related ones varies with each activity and might involve changes in the rules, the combining of different events, use of different equipment and venues, and a greater degree of risk to the athletes. Additionally, some extreme sports have been called “outlaw” sports because they have been banned in some jurisdictions as too dangerous. In street luge, for example, the participants lie flat on their backs on wheeled luges or “rails” and race downhill on roads.When these roads are used also by pedestrians, bikers, and vehicles, the sport is dangerous for both the competitors and others. Perhaps the common feature of extreme sports and what makes them extreme are requirements of the activities that make the sport especially dangerous and/or that test the limits of human physical ability or endurance. Extreme sports are international with the Extreme or X Games attracting competitors from dozens of nations. Different sports have developed in different nations—skysurfing in France, barefoot ski jumping in Australia, and some sports such as street luge, sport climbing, eco-challenge, and mountain biking draw participants from a variety of nations.

For the most part, however, competitors are from Western nations, with most coming from the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, France, and England. Some sports, such as sport climbing and eco-challenge, draw competitors who are in their thirties and forties, but most competitors in the other sports are usually in their twenties or even teens.Most extreme sports draw only male competitors, with only eco-challenge and sport climbing having significant numbers of women competitors. Sport climbing is the only extreme sport with separate divisions for men and women. All extreme sports, except for eco-challenge and skysurfing, are individual sports.