Snowmobiler Caleb Moore died on Thursday from complications that arose from an injury a week prior, we reported yesterday. With Moore's death tarnishing the previously-flawless record of fatalities in ESPN's X-Games, how will things change to accommodate the athletes' safety? That is a question that many people are asking today, and there may not be an immediate answer.
This year's X-Games had been a great success before the injury to Moore, as ESPN's TV ratings showed. Because of its ever-increasing popularity, ESPN plans to hold competitions outside of the United States, which it has never done before. X-Games officials, like many other people in the sports world, issued their condolences to Moore's friends and family.
In the accident that killed him, Moore had his 450-pound snowmobile come crashing down on him after hitting a jump improperly. The trick he failed to land was easier than some of the others he pulled, and he completed the trick many times in practice before. It goes to show just how much danger X-Games and other extreme sports athletes are in every time they perform, in a major event, a practice, or anything in between.
Deadspin made a poignant point shortly before the announced death of Moore, saying that the athletes and the TV network that broadcast the events are lucky that Moore is only the first death during the competition.
It is not the first time an extreme athlete has perished on the slopes though. The Huffington Post reminds us of skier Sarah Burke's and snowboarder Kevin Pearce's deaths in the last three years, both at the same training facility in Utah.
Moore was not the only person in his family to suffer a serious injury in this year's Winter X-Games. His younger brother, Colten, separated his pelvis, according to this Washington Post article.
This USA Today story features former X-Games host Sal Masekela, who worries that there is pressure on the athletes from many different sources (like themselves, the media and fans) that forces them to continually try crazier tricks, sometimes performing ones that haven't practiced much to give them a better chance at winning a medal.
The Denver Post reports that Moore's family has set up a website where anyone can contribute to the hospital bills accrued in the last week. One rider is auctioning off the sled he used during the X-Games as well.
Moore's bio and video highlights of his successful tricks can be found here.