Beijing Recap
October 24, 2004

BMX
The old guard took center stage during the BMX vert finals when Canadian legend, Jay Miron, captured the gold medal. "The Canadian Beast" wowed the crowd with a huge 540 tailwhip as part of a run that was chock full of difficult tricks. Jimmy Walker used his multiple flair variations to take second despite a nasty fall in the second round. Veteran John Parker again showed his love for the ramp the pros call "Penelope" with a smooth and stylish run that earned him the bronze. Denver's Jay Eggleston did every trick at 12 feet and finished fourth. With this being the first time that the people of Beijing could see pro BMX vert, the sold-out crowd went nuts and the riding was phenomenal across the board.

Skateboard
In front of huge crowds that forced the venue to temporarily shut its doors, Australian Jake Brown overcame strong runs from a half-dozen other skateboarders to win the LG Action Sports Tour Beijing event. Brown nailed a perfect 720 to barely hold-off Florida's Anthony Furlong for the title. Furlong skated flawlessly with most of his tricks at 7' above coping. Danny Mayer continued his run of strong performances to grab the bronze medal in a race for the podium that could have easily gone to Mike Crum, Brian Patch or Neil Hendrix as well. World's #1 ranked skater, Sandro Dias, survived what many called the scariest fall they'd ever seen (off the side of the ramp) in the prelims. Despite getting a dozen stitches in his leg, Dias came back to the ramp and landed a perfect 900, although it was after time had expired in his run.

Inline
Once again, the inline vert finals saw Japanese dominance on the half-pipe as the Yasutoko brothers took the top two spots. Eito, the older of the two brothers from Kobe, dazzled the crowd with an arsenal of tricks that included his patented late 1080, a double back-flip and a double-back 180. He edged out his younger brother Takeshi for the gold medal despite an incredible second run from Takeshi. Takeshi's double Viking flip 12 feet out was the trick that brought the loudest cheers from the capacity crowd. Australian Cesar Mora, despite being so sick that he threw up right after the contest, skated a nearly perfect run to take the bronze medal in front of fellow Aussie Shane Yost Shane Yost and American Marc Englehart

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