The founding father of competitive skateboarding, Tony Hawk, and other professional skaters' performances at the 1999 Gravity Games are captured on this highlight video. The Gravity Games, an Olympic-style competition for extreme sports, were originally broadcast by NBC Sports as a response to the popularity of ESPN's X-Games. Held in Providence, Rhode Island, the 1999 competition had three skateboarding competitions: the vert competition, where skaters attempt to top each other and gain the highest point above the halfpipe ...
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The founding father of competitive skateboarding, Tony Hawk, and other professional skaters' performances at the 1999 Gravity Games are captured on this highlight video. The Gravity Games, an Olympic-style competition for extreme sports, were originally broadcast by NBC Sports as a response to the popularity of ESPN's X-Games. Held in Providence, Rhode Island, the 1999 competition had three skateboarding competitions: the vert competition, where skaters attempt to top each other and gain the highest point above the halfpipe rail; the halfpipe competition, judged much like gymnastics, where skaters perform difficult aerial tricks; and the downhill race, where skaters compete on a course much like a bobsled course, racing downhill against one another. Though the style of the video could be described as MTV-like with its editing cuts and modern rock music, the influence of the NBC Sports production style is undeniable in the overall presentation. The skater interviews are much like postgame questions presented to football players and the overall flow of the video moves like what one would expect from NBC's coverage of the traditional Olympics. The prime reason for watching the video remains the top-notch camera work and thrilling skateboard action! Several other competitions from the Gravity Games have also been released on video, including Gravity Games: Motocross and Gravity Games: Snowboarding. Ed Atkinson, Rovi
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