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X GAMES IX MAKES HISTORY IN WOMENS SKATEBOARD PARK

Vanessa “VT” Torres becomes women’s first gold medallist in Skateboard Park

LOS ANGELES - X Games IX presented the first-ever women’s gold medal in Skateboard Park to Vanessa “VT” Torres. Women’s Skateboard Park was first demonstrated at X Games VIII in Philadelphia. Based on the success of the event, today’s event marked the first time medals were awarded to women in this event.

Although the event was filled with the world’s best women’s skateboarders, Torres (Anaheim, Calif.) was predicted to take the gold after performing the best in the demo at X Games VIII. On preparing for the event, Torres stated, “I definitely felt that I had to land my tricks, where last year in the demo I could fall and it didn’t matter as much.“ Torres was able to pull off a number of difficult tricks -- landing her a winning score of 82.00 -- including a backside disaster, a backside lip slide, front side board slide and a kick flip. Torres was also the only athlete to successfully grind on the cement.

“I didn’t think I was going to do as well as I did,” said Torres. “I didn’t come
here to win, but came here to skate. It is more of a reunion with all of the girls
who live around the world; it is just great to see them and be here.”

Lin-Z Adams Hawkins (Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Calif.) was the Women’s Skateboard Park silver medallist, with a score of 79.67, followed by Amy Caron (San Francisco, Calif.) with a score of 78.67.

“I was blown away and happy to be in the contest,” said Hawkins. “I am stoked to get this medal, and now that they are giving medals I hope that more women come out to try to skate.”

“I think that any exposure of women’s park skating is good, especially coming from the X Games,” said Torres. “I believe in women’s skating and it is getting better and bigger each year.”

Skateboarding is the fastest growing sport in North America (National Sporting Goods Association).

The Women’s Skateboard Vert competition will be held on Sunday August 17, 2003 at 6:00 P.M. at STAPLES Center.

The ninth annual X Games in Los Angeles showcases more than 300 of the world’s best action sports athletes competing in a variety of sports categories for medals and prize money from August 14-17. STAPLES Center serves as the primary venue for the X Games, and will host competitions in Aggressive In-line Skate, Bike Stunt, Moto X, and Skateboard. The Moto X Freestyle event will be held at the Los Angeles Coliseum at night under the lights on August 16, and Wakeboard will be held at Long Beach Marine Stadium. Competitions that take place the week prior include Surfing at Huntington Beach and Downhill BMX at Woodward West in Stallion Springs.

X Games IX will air on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC August 16-21, including a live telecast of the Bike Stunt Vert competition on Sunday, August 17 from 7-9 pm ET on ABC -- the first time an action sports competition will be aired on a broadcast network in primetime.

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Complete listings of all results and releases from X Game IX are on
www.espneventmedia.com.

Contacts:
Maria Elles Scott, cell 213-276-2803, maria.elles.scott@espn.com Melissa Gullotti, cell 802-236-9349, melissa.c.gullotti@espn.com

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