STEAMER SHOWS TEENS HOW IT'S DONE WINS ANOTHER GOLD MEDAL IN SKATEBOARDING.Byline: Keith Lair Staff Writer The X Games X Games Sports medicine The official Olympics of 'extreme sports' sponsored by ESPN, held annually during the summer. See Extreme sports. are about youth and vigor. And then there's Elissa Steamer Elissa Steamer (b. July 31 1975, Fort Myers, Florida) is an American professional skateboarder currently residing in San Francisco, California. History Elissa Steamer began skateboarding in 1989, turning pro in 1998 when she won the women's street section at Slam City Jam . Steamer, the matriarch of women's street skateboarding Street skateboarding is the act of riding a skateboard on paved surface, whether that surface is found at a public school, a shopping mall, or somewhere else. This is in contrast with a related, but much different subsection, vert skateboarding, which refers to riding a skateboard , won her second straight gold medal gold medal traditional first prize. [Western Cult: Misc.] See : Prize on a hot Friday afternoon outside Staples Center This article has multiple issues: * Its neutrality is disputed. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. * It does not cite any references or sources. . Steamer, 30, defeated her competition, primarily teenagers, and withstood a painfully sprained ankle A sprained ankle, also known as a ankle sprain, ankle injury or ankle ligament injury, is a common medical condition where one or more of the ligaments of the ankle is torn or partially torn. . Evelein Bouilliart, 15, of Belgium, was second and Marissa Del Santo, 18, of Naperville, Ill., was third in her first major competition. Steamer remembers what it was like to be the only girl to skate - and to not do well in contests. ``When I was a kid, I never skated with the girls,'' the West Hollywood West Hollywood A community of southern California northeast of Beverly Hills. It is mainly residential. Population: 36,600. resident said. ``There wasn't any girls doing it. The last seven years, there's been more and more doing it. Now, you go to a skatepark and there is at least one girl. ``It's good. It's evolution. Things are going to happen. It definitely makes me work harder.'' Steamer had the lead after the park run, doing a kickflip over the hedge, a nose grind and nose slide. She jumped the handrail on the rail slide, and that's when the new Steamer emerged - the one who works harder. On one jump, fellow competitor Vanessa Torres Vanessa Torres (born July 17, 1986 in Anaheim, California) is a professional skateboarder. Vanessa is one of the top skateboarding women in the world. She is featured in several women's skateboarding videos such as AKA: Girl Skater and Getting Nowhere Faster. got in the way and Steamer had to bail out, scraping Steamer's left elbow in the process. With blood running down her arm, she severely sprained her ankle. Steamer limped to the victory stand with an ice pack wrapped around her ankle. ``It hurts pretty bad,'' she said. ``I hope its not that bad. The whole time I was in pain on the ledge. You have to deal with it. You tell yourself to get over it. After the foot got blown, it was just (doing) the basics.'' Three years ago, if she had tweaked the ankle, she says she probably would have stopped. The first time she competed in an X Games event, in 2003, she finished seventh of eight, ``My head wasn't right then,'' she said. ``I had just been skating so long, I was getting bored of it. I didn't really put my heart and soul into it, and you finish where you put your heart and soul. After that, I decided to go for it.'' Bouilliart, making her first visit to the U.S., came alive in the rail-jam section. ``I always do rails,'' she said. ``That's what I like "That's What I Like" was a popular single by Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers. Father and son team Andy and John Pickles repeated the formula which had took their record Swing The Mood to number one a few months previously. .'' She did a frontside smith grind and plenty of lip slides to move into contention. Del Santo, who acknowledged she was nervous, nailed a backside lip glide at the jam session's end. ``I didn't think I would do that well,'' the recent high school graduate said. ``I get really nervous skating in front of people. I knew who Elissa Steamer was. I heard of Vanessa Torres. But I had never met them.'' Keith Lair, (626) 962-8811 keith.lair(at)sgvn.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Elissa Steamer jumps the hedges en route to victory in the women's street skateboarding event. Christian Petersen/Getty Images |
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