| T.J. Lavin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas Joseph Lavin Las Vegas, Nevada |
| Occupation | BMX Rider, Musician, Actor, Television host |
Thomas Joseph Lavin better known as T.J. Lavin is an American BMX rider, professional musician, and host of MTV's The Challenge since its eleventh season.
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Lavin first began to ride bikes when he was two and raced BMX until he was 15. He then gave up racing to try dirt jumping. He eventually turned pro at the age of nineteen. He has won almost every competition he has entered including the X Games and the Dew Action Sports Tour. In the X-Games he took bronze three times, silver once, and gold three times. He has been a DK Dirt Circuit Champ, a champion in the Gravity Games, and a CFB Champion. In 1995, he was crowned the "King of Dirt". He has a 1-acre (0.40 ha) BMX track in his backyard which includes several groomed trails and dirt jumps.[1] He is currently sponsored by S&M Bikes, Skin Clothing, Skeletal Metal, Monster Energy Drink, Lavs Lab, and Kicker. TJ Lavin is also the subject of a photorealist painting titled King of Dirt [1].
Lavin also loves making music; he has taught himself how to play piano and has a recording studio in his home. Lavin has released his own album called LAVS the First SET. He has also appeared on the song "Never Gonna Hold Me Down" with Johnny Richter on the Sub Noize Souljaz album, on the song "Watcha Want" on the album Random Stuff by good friend and Suburban Noize recording artist Big B, and on the Tsunami Bros. album King Harbor in a song titled "The Crab Shack Special".
In 2008, Lavin released the single "Soldier"--a tribute to his long time friend Stephen Murray. Stephen crashed during the AST Dew Tour. He suffered a serious spinal injury during a double-backflip attempt on June 22, 2007. All sales from the single were donated to the Stephen Murray Family Fund.[2]
Lavin is the subject of the film "A Film about T.J. Lavin". He appeared on an episode of MTV's Cribs.[3] Lavin has a video game named after him: "MTV Sports: T J Lavin's Ultimate BMX". He has hosted MTV's reality-competition show The Challenge (originally titled Real World/Road Rules Challenge) since its eleventh season. Lavin has always been known not to be a fan of competitors in the show that decide to quit, in season sixteen of The Challenge, The Island, Lavin went so far as criticizing a competitor Ashli Robson for unfairly taking a spot in a challenge, which sparked criticism of Lavin.[4]
Lavin was on the wrestling team in high school. His second favorite sport is motocross. In his free time he spends hours creating new obstacles to ride.
Lavin was competing in a Dew Tour event in Las Vegas on October 14, 2010, where he crashed and was rushed to the hospital. Due to the critical injuries he sustained, he was put into a medically induced coma and developed a case of pneumonia shortly after.[6][7] On October 20 Chas Aday, friend of Lavin, reported that Lavin was breathing on his own, following simple commands like squeezing hands or giving thumbs-up to the doctors and he was expected to make a full recovery.[8]Lavin was able to return home on November 16, 2010.[9]
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