Tara Dakides

Last updated

Tara Dakides (born August 20, 1975) is an American snowboarder and co-owner of O-matic Snowboards. She was born in Mission Viejo, California, and has snowboarded since she was 13 years old. She now resides in Mammoth Lakes, California.

Contents

Career

As a child, she took part in gymnastics and skateboarding. When she was a teenager, she branched out into several other more dangerous sports and became involved in motocross, surfing, mountain- and snow-based sports. This variety of sports experience gave her an edge in the X Games competitions.

At the Winter X Games in 1999, Dakides won a silver medal in slopestyle and a gold in big air. In 2000, she won two gold medals, one in slopestyle with a combined score of 88.50 after three runs, the other in big air with a combined score of 78.00. In 2001, she won another big air gold medal with a score of 89.00, and finished seventh in slopestyle. At the 2001 Sims World Championships, she was first in slopestyle and fifth in big air At the 2002 X Games, she won her third slopestyle gold medal. She also received EXPN's Snowboarder of the Year award.

In May 2003, Dakides participated in the Gumball 3000 rally race. She continues to race in motocross, shifter carts in addition to racing in the Baja 1000 competition.

Media

She has appeared as a cover model for various sports magazines and has appeared in various video games. In 2001, she was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and was named "The Coolest Sports Woman in 2001".

Dakides was featured on Spike TV's special edition of MXC on April 22, 2004 which was taped at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida and was dubbed MXC Almost Live. At the end of the episode, Dakides successfully ran the Log Drop after being challenged by Tony Hawk.

During her appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2004, Dakides attempted to perform a stunt outside the Ed Sullivan Theater but fell 15 feet from a ramp while not wearing a helmet. She was taken to hospital and required stitches on the back of her head. She recovered and returned to the show for an interview a few days later.

Dakides is a spokesperson for the Surfrider Foundation, a non-profit environmental organization.

Dakides was nominated for the 2005 Teen Choice Awards in the category of Choice Xtreme Athlete - Female, losing out to surfer Layne Beachley. She was ranked #90 on FHM's 100 Sexiest Women of 2004. [1] She was featured in episode 62 of MTV Cribs.

Dakides appeared as the captain of the Denver Hurlers on Game Show Network's show Extreme Dodgeball . She also had a role in the film Chalet Girl in which she played herself and starred alongside Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick and Felicity Jones.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">X Games</span> Extreme sports tournament

The X Games are an annual action sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Participants compete to win bronze, silver, and gold medals, as well as prize money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun White</span> American snowboarder and skateboarder (born 1986)

Shaun Roger White is an American former professional snowboarder and skateboarder. He is a five-time Olympian and a three-time Olympic gold medalist in half-pipe snowboarding. He holds the world record for the most X Games gold medals and most Olympic gold medals by a snowboarder. He has also won 10 ESPY Awards throughout his career in various categories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gretchen Bleiler</span> American snowboarder

Gretchen ElisabethBleiler is an American former professional halfpipe snowboarder. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Olympics.

Kristi Leskinen is an American freestyle skier. At Winter X Games IX, Leskinen won a bronze medal in the Women's Superpipe. Kristi Leskinen was the first woman to ever pull off a rodeo 720—two rotations with her head pointed towards the earth. She was named one of the Twenty Greatest Adventure Sport Athletes of today by Faces Magazine in fall of 2005. She appeared on the cover of Powder magazine's Photo Annual in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Rice</span> American professional snowboarder (born 1982)

Travis Rice is an American professional snowboarder. He is #13 on Snowboarder magazine's list of the 20 most influential snowboarders of the last 20 years. The 40-year-old has featured in more than twenty snowboarding films. Rice's biggest claim to fame was when he arrived at Snowboarder magazine's Superpark contest at Mammoth Mountain and launched a 'mammoth' of a backside rodeo across a 117-foot gap jump. He has been considered "the Paul Revere" of the big mountain freestyle movement. In 2013, Rice was named the best contemporary snowboarder in the world by Red Bull; Rice was also hailed as one of the greatest snowboarders of all time by numerous writers and publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Anderson (snowboarder)</span> American professional snowboarder

Jamie Louise Anderson is an American professional snowboarder. She won the gold medal in the inaugural Women's Slopestyle Event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and repeated the feat at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, making her the first female snowboarder to win more than one Olympic gold medal. She has won gold medals in slopestyle at the Winter X Games in consecutive years in 2007/8 and 2012/3. She has 25 total medals: eighteen gold, five silver, and two bronze.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ståle Sandbech</span> Norwegian snowboarder

Ståle Sandbech is a Norwegian snowboarder, who specialises in Big Air, and Slopestyle. He has participated at the 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 Winter Olympics and won a silver medal in the Men's slopestyle in 2014. Sandbech has also competed at several Winter X Games, winning 2 Silver medals in 2015 and 2017 and 3 bronze medals in 2013 and 2014, and a Gold medal at the 2017 World Championships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sébastien Toutant</span> Canadian snowboarder

Sébastien Toutant is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the reigning Olympic gold medallist in men's big air snowboarding from its debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Toutant was twice the gold medal winner in slopestyle at the X Games in 2011 and 2013. He has won an additional two silver medals plus a bronze in slopestyle and big air events at the X Games, bringing his total medals in the competition to five.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark McMorris</span> Canadian snowboarder

Mark Lee McMorris is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, and 2022 Winter Olympics in the slopestyle event. While filming for Transworld Snowboarding's "Park Sessions" video in March 2011, Mark became the first person to land a Backside Triple Cork 1440. More recently, on April 28, 2018, Mark landed the world's first Double Cork off a rail, the Front-Board Double Cork 1170, with a melancholy grab. Mark has also left his mark at X-Games and other events. In 2012 and 2013, Mark won back-to-back gold medals in Winter X Games in the slopestyle event. In 2023 he defended his Winter X Games gold medal in the men's slopestyle to set a record for the most Winter X Games medals with 22.

Winter X Games XVI were held from January 26 to January 29, 2012, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 11th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN. The following year, the Winter X Games were held in two international cities: Aspen, Colorado and Tignes, France.

Chanelle Sladics is an American professional snowboarder surfer, and skateboarder. She is a competitor in women’s slopestyle and rail jams. She has competed in seven Winter X Games and won a bronze medal in the 2007 slopestyle competition. She was finished in the top ten of the TTR World Snowboard Tour in 2009. Sladics has also served as an on-air reporter for ESPN during the Winter X Games.

Maxence "Max" Parrot is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the reigning Olympic champion in slopestyle, winning gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics and also won a silver in the event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Parrot has also won six gold medals at the Winter X Games and two gold medals at the Winter X Games Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Gasser</span> Austrian snowboarder

Anna Gasser is an Austrian snowboarder, competing in slopestyle and big air. She lives in Millstatt. She is the 2018 and 2022 Olympic Champion in Big air.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aimee Fuller</span> British snowboarder

Aimee Nicole E. Fuller is a British slopestyle snowboarder who represented Great Britain at the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Winter X Games XIX were held from January 21 to January 25, 2015, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 14th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN. The games featured participants from the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Australia.

Winter X Games XXI were held from January 26 to January 29, 2017, in Aspen, Colorado. Thomas Wilson won his 16th consecutive Winter X Games held in Aspen. The events were broadcast on ESPN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Marino (snowboarder)</span> American snowboarder (born 1997)

Julia (Jules) Marino is an American snowboarder from Westport, Connecticut who competes in the Slopestyle and Big Air disciplines.

Laurie Blouin is a Canadian freestyle snowboarder. She is the reigning FIS World Champion in slopestyle, winning the gold at the 2017 World Championships. Blouin won a silver medal in slopestyle at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoi Sadowski-Synnott</span> New Zealand snowboarder (born 2001)

Zoi Katherine Sadowski-Synnott is a New Zealand snowboarder, specialising in slopestyle and big air competitions. She won the gold medal in the women's slopestyle and silver in the big air at the 2022 Winter Olympics, becoming New Zealand's first gold medallist and first to win multiple medals at the Winter Olympics. She also won the bronze medal in the women's big air at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and won the women's slopestyle title at the 2019 World Championships.

Janna Meyen-Weatherby is a retired American slopestyle snowboarder. Meyen won gold at the Winter X Games from 2003 to 2006 and became the first athlete to win gold four times in a row at Winter X. She was nominated for the Best Female Action Sports Athlete ESPY Award in 2005 and 2006 and retired from competition in 2012.

References

  1. "FreeJose.com". FHM 100 Sexiest Women of 2004. Archived from the original on January 19, 2007. Retrieved January 31, 2007.