X Games Relives Top 25 Moments in Honor of 25th Anniversary June 24

Tony Hawk during practice for Skateboard Vert at X Games Austin 2015, June 3. Image credit: / ESPN / Nick Guise-Smith

Monday, June 15, 2020

This year, X Games celebrates a 25-year legacy in action sports with a lineup of content across ESPN’s linear and digital platforms throughout the month of June. Bringing nostalgia to lifelong fans and introducing young fans to X Games roots, the 25th anniversary celebration will feature exclusive content from back-in-the-day to the current heyday of X Games. The first Extreme Games took place beginning on June 24, 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, featuring sports like Street Luge, Sky Surfing, Windsurfing and more.

The 25th anniversary content will kick off today with a celebration and countdown of the top 25 X Games moments on @XGames social media handles. The World of X Games episode on June 20 will follow with a full 25th anniversary show featuring exclusive interviews with action sports legends like Tony Hawk and Travis Pastrana, throwback footage and more.

On June 24, ESPN will officially celebrate 25 years of the X Games with a dedicated programming block on ESPN2. The X Games Vault programming will include the ’95 Rhode Island anthology, Tony Hawk’s 900 episode and a one-hour show featuring the Most Dominant to compete at X Games. X Games’ YouTube channel will also host a legends of X Games panel with iconic names reminiscing about the best stories in X Games history.

Throughout the month of June, fans and athletes can join in the celebration by sharing their favorite X Games memories, photos and clips on social media using #XGames25.

Launching in 1995 as an experiment, X Games is now the premiere action sports event in the world. Broadcast live to fans around the world, X Games is now delivered to more than 158M households and 192 countries and territories. X Games has become a year-round hub for action sports content with multiple events hosted around the globe each year, more than 100 hours of World of X Games content on ABC and ESPN networks, 10M+ fans across @XGames social media, five Real Series video part competitions and loads of original digital content.

Moments in X Games History:

Video: Extreme Games 1995

Video: X Games Minneapolis 2019

Photos: ESPNImages.com

X Games Fun Facts

First Hosts: Suzy Kolber & Chris Fowler

First Gold Medal: Justin Seers, Barefoot Jumping

Athletes you Might Recognize from ‘95: Bob Burnquist, Danny Way, Kevin Robinson, Dennis McCoy, Fabiola da Silva, Mat Hoffman, Dave Mirra, Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero

Most Medaled Athlete: Bob Burnquist, 30

Athlete Numbers: 1995 Extreme Games invited 373 athletes competing in 30 disciplines; X Games Minneapolis invited 163 in 19 disciplines; 4,124 total athletes have competed at all X Games events globally since 1995

Disciplines: Only five disciplines contested in ’95 remain – BMX Vert, BMX Dirt, Skateboard Park, Skateboard Street Best Trick and Skateboard Vert

Source: ESPN, Grace Coryell, June 1, 2020

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