The adrenaline-pumping experience of extreme sports attracts not only participants but also spectators. Watching a person walk on a tightrope over a deep gorge causes more adrenaline than following tennis tournaments or long-distance running. That is why the spread of extreme sports since the early 2000s has been like a tsunami. It has been relentlessly involving more and more people, and over time, spectators have become participants. According to experts, extreme sports have already attracted more than 490 million people worldwide. The income of this industry exceeds $200 billion per year. Let’s look at the reasons for the growing popularity of extreme sports worldwide.
What Type of People Get Involved in Extreme Sports
Love for danger and extreme sports is closely studied by various psychological schools. Scientists are trying to understand what makes people jump from great heights, dive deep underwater, withstand huge waves, etc. Adventure enthusiasts willingly risk their lives for the sake of thrill and expanding human capabilities. Not only experienced athletes who have excellent control over their bodies participate in such sports. For the most part, young people and even teenagers are involved in sports such as BASE jumping, parkour, cliff diving, surfing, mountain biking, etc. Such extreme adventures become a real challenge for them, overcoming which they try to assert themselves and push their limits.
Passion for Extreme Adventures in Other Spheres of Life
This phenomenon of taking high risks while striving to reach the goal is observed not only in sports. Another manifestation of the passion for adventure is gambling. Players who make huge bets are like surfers trying to catch a wave. Those who are more cautious try to find profitable no-deposit bonuses so as not to risk their money. NDBs are similar to traditional sports, where athletes do not risk anything if they act carefully. So, to get slots.lv no deposit bonus, the player just needs to register on the platform and start playing without making a deposit. Those who are inclined to extreme sports go the other way. For them, taking a risk and making a big bet is like jumping from a high bridge with just one safety rope.
Why People Choose Extreme Sports
Among the most prevalent factors in the spread of extreme sports, psychologists mention the following ones:
- Social environment: A teenager gets involved in a certain type of extreme sport if they communicate with friends who are passionate about it. In this case, refraining from sports experiments means showing weakness of character and losing reputation among friends.
- Immersion in nature. Many extreme sports are associated with the natural forces of water (windsurfing, diving, kiting, flyboarding, rafting), air (paragliding, skydiving, bungee jumping), earth (rock climbing, mountain biking), and fire (fire performance). In this way, adventurers try to reconnect with nature, lost as a result of living in big cities.
- Sensation seeking. Some psychologists believe that people engage in extreme sports for the sake of new sensations and adrenaline. Also, the flip side of such experiments is a growing status in the social environment. This also gives new sensations, but of a social nature.
Supporting Extreme Sports Globally
Many extreme sports began as youth subcultures in the 1960s and 1970s. Mainstream sports organizations viewed them as fringe hobbies for teenagers and young adults. However, in our time, extreme sports have risen in their status and entered the list of sports disciplines in the Olympic Games. World sports organizations have realized that if they ignore such sports, they will lose viewership. In parallel, other organizations will emerge that will challenge their dominant position. Therefore, since the 1990s, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) began to include certain extreme sports in its program:
- 1996 ‒ Mountain biking
- 1998 ‒ Snowboarding
- 2008 ‒ BMX racing
- 2010 ‒ Ski cross
- 2020 ‒ Skateboarding, Sport climbing, Surfing
- 2024 ‒ Breaking
This integration of extreme sports into mainstream ones gives them an even greater boost and expands their audience. Thus, we should expect an even greater worldwide spread in the near future.
Summary
Adventurers seeking to expand human capabilities practice extreme sports all over the world. Today, experts count more than 30 types of extreme sports, which is not the limit since new technologies create new types of sports. Risk, adrenaline, relatively low-cost equipment, and respect from peers contribute to their popularization and distribution. As a result, even the Olympic Committee has succumbed to their appeal and included more than a quarter of this list in the programs of its Summer and Winter Olympic Games.
