Mike Metzger

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Mike Metzger (born November 19, 1975 in Huntington Beach, California) is an American Freestyle Motocross (FMX) rider. In the 2002 X-Games he won the Freestyle and Big Air events and got second place in Step Up, earning him an estimated $100,000 in three days. In 2003 he also got first place in Big Air. On May 4, 2006, at 9:26, Metzger completed "The Impossible Jump", doing a world record backflip over the fountains in front of Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, seen live on ESPN. He is the first person to complete a backflip over the fountains, and only the second person to ever successfully land that jump. The others to attempt the jump over Caesars Palace's fountains include Evel Knievel, Gary Wells, and Robbie Knievel, of which only Robbie landed successfully. Not only did Metzger complete this jump whilst performing a backflip, but he also set the record for distance, landing 125 feet from the takeoff ramp.^{[citation needed]}

Commonly known as "The Godfather of Freestyle Motocross", Metzger was one of the first riders to begin doing basic tricks such as heel clickers and can cans. His acrobatic accomplishments include being the first person to complete back-to-back-flips (two flips on two consecutive jumps) at the X-Games.^[1] As a result of his popularity, he also appeared in Freekstyle, a 2002 motocross racing video game for the PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo Gamecube, and his image is on the cover of the game's box.^[2] He invented the heel clicker. (Frezno Smooth)

Metzger has appeared numerous times on the Discovery Channel's extreme sport show Stunt Junkies. In the last episode he appeared in, he was seriously injured; while attempting to execute a jump with a back-flip between two barges, he overshot the landing ramp and suffered a compression fracture of the L4 vertebra in his lower back.^[3]

He also invented the "McMetz", a trick in which the rider puts both feet over the handlebars in midair, then sweeps them backward towards his arms, takes his hands off the bars to allow the legs by, then remounts the bike after floating detached from it for a split second.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

v t e Discovery Channel's Biker Build-Off

Main cast/crew Hugh "The Chopper" King Thom Beers

Builders Kevin Alsop Mitch Bergeron Roger Bourget Mike Brown Gypsy Charro Chica Jerry Covington Scotty Cox Detroit Brothers Rick Fairless Ron Finch Cole Foster Roger Goldammer Eric Gorges Jason Hart Matt Hotch Indian Larry Kendall Johnson Jason Kangas Shinya Kimura Brian Klock Billy Lane Larry Linkogle Mike Long Scott Long Joe Martin Mike Metzger Russell Mitchell Mondo Arlen Ness Cory Ness Dave Perewitz Ell Pitts Harold Pontarelli Michael Prugh Mike Pugliese Jesse Rooke Roland Sands Kim Suter Ivy Tosclair Trevelene Eddie Trotta Warren Vesely Marcus Walz Craig Whitford Paul Yaffe Hank Young

WikiProject Motorcycling

Persondata
Name	Metzger, Mike
Alternative names
Short description	Motocross rider
Date of birth	19 November 1975
Place of birth	Huntington Beach, California
Date of death
Place of death

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