EXTREME SPORTS 2

Heart-stopping activities such as mountain biking, snowboarding and skydiving are known as ‘extreme sports’. And they are attracting more and more people. One of the most extreme of all these sports is BASE jumping. First done in 1980, BASE jumping is jumping off tall buildings, towers and bridges using a parachute. Like other extreme sports, it’s the risk of disaster that makes BASE jumping so exciting. As one BASE jumper puts it, ‘There aren’t many injuries in BASE jumping; you either live or you die.’ Some experts predict that extreme sports will become the major sports of the 21st century. They may become more popular than traditional favourites like soccer and baseball. At one recent extreme sports show in Chicago, most of the crowd were kids under sixteen. As they stood watching in their baggy pants and hooded sweatshirts, one excited eleven-year-old spoke for the next generation of athletes. ‘That is so cool!’ he exclaimed. ‘I gotta do that!’