LOS ANGELES — Only at the X Games, where athletes sometimes win medals before they graduate the eighth grade, would Travis Pastrana be considered an old man.
But it was a taunt about his decrepitude, and a wager to go with it, that brought the multisport star back to freestyle motocross where he made his name.
The 16th annual circus of twists, flips and stunning risks returns for a four-day stint in downtown Los Angeles starting today, and Pastrana, who has taken a relatively low profile in the last few Games, is set to compete in a record five events.
Pastrana was on a spring tour for “Nitro Circus,” the MTV show where athletes combine action sports with stunts.
His co-star Blake Williams, who has thrived in freestyle motocross since Pastrana shifted his focus to rally car racing a few years ago, teased the 26-year-old Pastrana about returning to the event this summer.
“He told me, ‘You should come back to X Games and get smoked, old man,’ ” Pastrana said. “I’m a year and a half older than him.”
The Australian Williams added an extra enticement, a bet of $5 — though it wasn’t clear whether it would be Aussie or U.S. currency, Pastrana said.
Taking up the challenge, Pastrana will return to the event known here as freestyle moto X tonight. He’s also set to compete in moto X best trick, rally car racing, the new rally car super rally and moto X speed.
The X Games have seen bigger stars — including virtual household names such as Tony Hawk and Shaun White — but Pastrana has been the festival’s most enduring and versatile star, who embodies its combination of athleticism, personality and death-defying moves. He has won nine gold medals at the Games but in recent years hasn’t even attempted to conquer several events like he did in 2006, when he won three gold medals and pulled off the first in-competition double backflip, one of the Everests of the sport and one of the top moments in X Games history.
White, coming off an Olympic gold medal at the Vancouver Games, will return to the vert ramp from a year off spent focusing on snowboarding.
He’s entered in skateboard vert, where he won his first Summer X Games gold medal in 2007, and skateboard vert best trick.
On the women’s side, Ashley Fiolek, the deaf motocross rider who has quickly gone from teen phenom to X Games veteran, will seek her second straight gold in moto X.
And athletes including Kevin Robinson and Bob Burnquist will take on the X Games’ near-legendary mega ramp, where skateboarders and BMX riders annually challenge gravity.
