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Extreme Sports
Extreme Sports faster, climb higher and compete for longer. No sporting challenge is too great or too difficult. See what it takes to beat
EXTREME SPORTS
Extreme sportsmen and sportswomen go
the rest and be the best.
Browse the complete Collins catalogue at
www.collins.co.uk ISBN 978-0-00-733632-6
9 780007 336326
www.collins.co.uk/collinsbigcat
An information book
Adrian Bradbury
What are extreme sports?
Most extreme sports are physically tough, so their
Extreme sports involve all the action, adventure, thrills and heartaches
rather than older, but fitness, skill, balance
of other sports, but with added risks. Extreme sportsmen and sportswomen
and, above all, training and experience
push themselves to the limit. If they go fast, they want to go faster. If they climb
are more important than age.
sportsmen and sportswomen tend to be younger
high, they want to climb higher. If they find something easy, they want to make it more difficult. They want to challenge themselves, even if it means facing much greater dangers than in ordinary sports.
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What are extreme sports?
Most extreme sports are physically tough, so their
Extreme sports involve all the action, adventure, thrills and heartaches
rather than older, but fitness, skill, balance
of other sports, but with added risks. Extreme sportsmen and sportswomen
and, above all, training and experience
push themselves to the limit. If they go fast, they want to go faster. If they climb
are more important than age.
sportsmen and sportswomen tend to be younger
high, they want to climb higher. If they find something easy, they want to make it more difficult. They want to challenge themselves, even if it means facing much greater dangers than in ordinary sports.
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Fly like a bird
Skydiving
All airborne extreme sports are at
Parachutes were first used as a way of escaping safely from a hot air balloon.
the mercy of the weather, which can
Their design and safety improved during the 20th century and jumpers began
change quickly and dramatically.
to use parachutes for sport.
Anyone taking part in these sports must decide if they have the skill and experience
In a typical skydive, the jumpers will leap from a plane at an altitude of 3,962 metres. They’ll open their parachutes 610 metres above the ground after a freefall of one minute.
to cope with the conditions. Is it safe to jump or fly?
parachute strong, lightweight helmet to protect the head on landing
goggles to keep the jumper’s vision clear
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Homer4.6
Fly like a bird
Skydiving
All airborne extreme sports are at
Parachutes were first used as a way of escaping safely from a hot air balloon.
the mercy of the weather, which can
Their design and safety improved during the 20th century and jumpers began
change quickly and dramatically.
to use parachutes for sport.
Anyone taking part in these sports must decide if they have the skill and experience
In a typical skydive, the jumpers will leap from a plane at an altitude of 3,962 metres. They’ll open their parachutes 610 metres above the ground after a freefall of one minute.
to cope with the conditions. Is it safe to jump or fly?
parachute strong, lightweight helmet to protect the head on landing
goggles to keep the jumper’s vision clear
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Training and safety
Sometimes skydivers jump together. This is called formation skydiving.
All skydivers take intensive training courses that teach them how to open their canopy, how to change their body position in the air and how to land safely.
Extreme skydivers jump higher! Jumps have been made from a height of over 9,144 metres. For these, the skydiver needs to carry bottled oxygen as the air is very thin at that altitude.
Record breaker The highest skydive was from an altitude of 31,333 metres by US Captain Joseph Kittinger in 1960. His speed was recorded as 988 kilometres per hour – almost breaking the sound barrier.
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Training and safety
Sometimes skydivers jump together. This is called formation skydiving.
All skydivers take intensive training courses that teach them how to open their canopy, how to change their body position in the air and how to land safely.
Extreme skydivers jump higher! Jumps have been made from a height of over 9,144 metres. For these, the skydiver needs to carry bottled oxygen as the air is very thin at that altitude.
Record breaker The highest skydive was from an altitude of 31,333 metres by US Captain Joseph Kittinger in 1960. His speed was recorded as 988 kilometres per hour – almost breaking the sound barrier.
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Wingsuit flying In order to be able to stay in the air longer, a special suit was designed to slow the jumper down. The wingsuit catches the air, increasing
Training and safety This sport’s so difficult to get right that jumpers should have experienced at least 200 skydives before attempting their first wingsuit flight.
wind resistance, or drag, so that the jumper falls at around 97 kilometres
The chief developer of the wingsuit, Frenchman Patrick de Gayardon,
per hour when skydiving, rather than the normal speed of 193 kilometres
was killed in 1992 when he jumped to test his latest design.
per hour. This wingsuit jumper has a camera attached to his helmet to record his flight.
The wingsuit is based on the webbed arms and legs of a flying squirrel. For this reason it’s often known as a “squirrel suit”.
wings made of of thick nylon
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