At the Beijing Winter Olympics skateboard and snowboard double-threat Ayumu Hirano soared to gold in the men's snowboard halfpipe. His success, among other brilliant results achieved by Japanese athletes in both Beijing and at the Tokyo Summer Games, has helped X-sports popularity explode.
X-sports, an abbreviation for extreme sports, are sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding and BMX that involve high speed and risk. Supported mainly by young people, the sports also have strong ties with music and fashion.
