X Games safety in spotlight after snowmobiler Caleb Moore's death

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 19px;">Friends mourn 25-year-old star athlete and 'fierce competitor', whose accidental death is first in daring contest's 18-year history</span><br /><span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span itemprop="name" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a class="contributor" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/tommccarthy" itemprop="url" rel="author" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Tom McCarthy</a></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px;"> in New York From: </span><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/">http://www.guardian.co.uk</a><br /><img alt="x games caleb moore" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/31/1359661259702/x-games-caleb-moore-008.jpg" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Emergency personnel tend to Moore after he crashed during the snowmobile freestyle event last week. Photograph: Christian Murdock/AP</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">Caleb Moore was a top athlete in one of the most daring competitions ever devised for television: freestyle snowmobiling. But his death on Thursday from injuries sustained in last week's Winter X Games threw his sport – and the attending spectacle – into a harsh new light.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">The 25-year-old died in a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/colorado" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on Colorado">Colorado</a> hospital from medical complications affecting his brain, a family spokesperson said.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">"He will be truly missed and never forgotten," the family said in a statement. "The family wishes to express their deep gratitude for all the prayers and support they have received from all the fans, friends and family around the world that Caleb has inspired."</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">Moore crashed a minute into a routine in which he treated his 450-pound snowmobile like a broomstick, spinning around it in midair as he flew from ramp from ramp. He had been attempting a backflip with his machine, a trick he had performed many times. The X Games, which are produced by ESPN, are built on such excitement – and risk.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">Moore's death was directly preceded by warnings that X Games athletes were taking life-threatening risks in the pursuit of victory – and the fame and potentially lucrative sponsorship deals that could follow.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">Under the headline "It's only a matter of time before someone dies at the X-Games", Brent Rose, a writer for the sports site Deadspin, described his dismay at the multiple accidents – including Moore's – he witnessed at this year's games, held in Aspen. Rose's report was published Thursday morning, before news spread of Moore's death.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">"As I watched these athletes fly over my head, it really hit home just how miraculous the zero-casualty rate was," <a href="http://deadspin.com/5980175/its-only-a-matter-of-time-before-someone-dies-at-the-x-games" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Rose wrote</a>. "'Maybe it's safer than it looks,' I thought for a brief moment. And then they started dropping like planes over Midway."</div><span class="inline" style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; display: block; float: left; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px 20px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><img alt="x games caleb moore" height="132" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2013/1/31/1359661363711/x-games-caleb-moore-004.jpg" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;" width="220" /><span class="caption" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #666666; display: block; font-size: 0.858em; line-height: 1.25; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 220px;">Caleb Moore</span></span><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">The X Games have been a huge success for sponsors and broadcasters – and a huge treat for fans – since their inception 18 years ago. With a focus on sports such as skateboarding and BMX that once lived on the commercial margins, the games gave athletes new professional avenues and fans new access to the excitement. The advent of the Winter X Games in 1997 shed a lucrative spotlight on snowboarding and snowmobiling.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">For ESPN, the games have been a big success. This year's winter competition broke all records for viewership, drawing 35.4 million US viewers, including all live and repeat telecasts, according to <a href="http://business.transworld.net/86566/news/x-games-2012-ratings-soar/" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">official figures</a>. Viewership among the key demographic, men aged 18-34, was up 16%.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">With the global television audience for the games growing, <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/espn-content-chief-john-skipper-if-the-fans-want-to-watch-it-we-are-going-to-try-and-get-it_b87703" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">ESPN plans</a>to produce competitions at sites outside the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa" style="background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #005689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="More from guardian.co.uk on United States">United States</a> for the first time next year. As with the Olympics, potential host cities will participate in a formal bidding process to host the games. Unlike the Olympics, the process will be arbitrated not by an international committee but by the games' for-profit broadcaster: ESPN.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">In a statement Thursday, X Games officials expressed condolences and said Moore would be remembered "for his natural passion for life and his deep love for his family and friends".</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">Moore's agent, BC Vaught, told the Associated Press that Moore didn't believe his sport was too extreme, but rather "it was a lifestyle". He was good at it – along with ATV racing – and had accumulated a garage full of trophies.</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">Fellow snowmobile rider Levi LaVallee recently described Moore as a "fierce competitor".</div><div style="background-color: white; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 13px; padding: 0px;">"A very creative mind," LaVallee said. "I've watched him try some crazy, crazy tricks, and some of them were successful, some of them not so much. But he was first guy to get back on a sled and go try it again. It shows a lot of heart."</div></div>

Caleb Moore X Games X Games safety in spotlight after snowmobiler Caleb Moore's death

Friends mourn 25-year-old star athlete and 'fierce competitor', whose accidental death is first in daring contest's 18-year hist...

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Snowmobiler Caleb Moore Dies After Critical Injuries in X Games Crash

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="PHOTO: Caleb Moore, center, watches practice for Snowmobile Freestyle, Jan. 24, 2013, during the 2013 Winter X Games in Aspen." src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/Sports/gty_caleb_moore_tk_130128_wg.jpg" /><br /><span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 14px;">Caleb Moore, center, watches practice for Snowmobile Freestyle, Jan. 24, 2013, during the 2013 Winter X Games in Aspen. </span><span class="caption_credit" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #888888; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(RJ Sangosti / The Denver Post/ Getty Images)</span><br /><span class="caption_credit" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #888888; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span><br /><div class="byline_date" style="float: left; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 490px;"><div class="byline_date_inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 485px;"><div class="byline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">By <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/author/lauren_effron" rel="author" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">LAUREN EFFRON</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/LEffron831" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@LEffron831</a>) From: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/" style="font-size: 11px;">http://abcnews.go.com</a></div><div class="date" style="margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 0px;">Jan. 31, 2013</div></div></div><br /><div id="sponsoredByAd" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; left: 430px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: 0px; text-align: right; top: 419px;"><span id="sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span id="_fw_container_sponsoredbylogo1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Texas snowmobiler Caleb Moore died today after succumbing to injuries he sustained one week ago at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., when his snowmobile flipped on top of him in a violent crash during competition.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">"This morning Caleb Moore passed away," the Moore family said in a statement through family spokeswoman Chelsea Lawson. "He will be truly missed and never forgotten.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">"The family wishes to express their deep gratitude for all the prayers and support they have received from all the fans, friends and family around the world that Caleb has inspired."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">This is the first death as a result of a competitor's sustaining injuries during competition in the 18-year reign of the X Games, which is produced by ABC's sister network ESPN.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">ESPN today released a statement offered condolences to the Moore family and saying it would conduct a "thorough review" into the X Games freestyle snowmobiling event and "adopt appropriate changes" for future X Games.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">"For 18 years, we have worked closely on safety issues with athletes, course designers and other experts," network officials said, adding that Moore was hurt performing a move he had done several times before. "Still, when the world's best compete at the highest level in any sport, risks remain."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/slideshow/notable-deaths-2013-18116446" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">PHOTOS: Notable Deaths in 2013</strong></a></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Scott Guglielmino, ESPN's senior vice president of programming and global X events, said in an interview today on ESPN's "Outside the Lines" that X Games officials followed all medical protocol in treating Moore on site.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">While "trying to mitigate as much risk as possible" is their top concern, Guglielmino said, the "world class" athletes that compete in the event understood the risks. He said competitors also have to provide proof they can perform their tricks before they are allowed to compete at the X Games.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">"We are not equally responsible but we are all responsible for [Caleb's accident]," Guglielmino said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Moore, a 25-year-old former all-terrain vehicle racer and medaled X Game competitor from Krum, Texas, had been in critical condition at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., after developing complications in his heart and brain after an accident last Thursday night during the Snowmobile Freestyle finals.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Moore was completing a back-flip when he came up short and the skis on his sled hit the landing, causing the 450-pound machine to flip end-over-end.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Moore went over the handlebars of the snowmobile and it came crashing down on top of him. He tumbled down the slope for several feet before coming to a stop at the bottom, where he lay on the ground for a few minutes.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Moore eventually got up and walked off the course with help, but he was rushed to Aspen Valley Hospital with a concussion, according to an X Games Medical report. While there, doctors discovered bleeding around Moore's heart and he was flown to St. Mary's Hospital.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">St. Mary's Hospital declined ABC News' request for comment.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Moore underwent emergency heart surgery last Friday and had since remained in intensive care. But on Sunday, the Moore family released a statement through ESPN saying, "his cardiac injury has led to a secondary complication involving his brain."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Moore's younger brother Colten Moore, 23, also competed in the Snowmobile Freestyle finals and crashed during the X Games competition. He was taken to the hospital with a separated pelvis but was released Friday and "will not require surgery," according to Lawson.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">An <a href="http://www.giveforward.com/calebmoore" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">online fundraiser</a> was set up on behalf of the Moore family on Tuesday to help the family pay for medical bills. As of this writing, the fund had raised over $26,500.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Jackson "Jacko" Strong, Moore's fellow X Games snowmobile competitor, is also <a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=321064269663#ht_500wt_1116" style="color: #336699; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">auctioning off his 2012 Polaris IQ 600R snowmobile</a>, which he rode in competition at this year's X Games, to help benefit the Moore family.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Strong also crashed during last week's X Games competition. During his Best Trick snowmobile run, the 21-year-old Australian native let go of the handlebars and attempted to grab the back of the sled in a midair stunt, but couldn't get a good grip and flew off of it. The snowmobile landed on its skis and raced into the crowd watching on the sidelines. No one was seriously injured.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Both Moore brothers are decorated Winter X Games veterans, who made their debut in competitive snowmobiling in 2010 in Aspen after years of racing ATVs.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 23px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 150px;">Caleb, who has four Winter X Games medals, took home the bronze medal in Snowmobile Freestyle at last year's games, and stood next to brother Colten on the podium, who had snagged gold.</div></div>

Caleb Moore Dies After Critical Injuries in X Games Cras Snowmobiler Snowmobiler Caleb Moore Dies After Critical Injuries in X Games Crash

Caleb Moore, center, watches practice for Snowmobile Freestyle, Jan. 24, 2013, during the 2013 Winter X Games in Aspen.  (RJ Sangosti / The ...

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