Extreme sport (practically synonymous with the term action sport) is a general term for sports featuring speed, height, danger or spectacular stunts. A feature of such activities in the view of some is their alleged capacity to induce a so-called ‘‘ adrenaline rush‘‘ in participants . Extreme sports are often associated with young adults wishing to push themselves to the limits of their physical ability, in turn pushing the boundaries of a particular sport. This youthful demographic accounts too for extreme sports‘ frequent association with youth culture , not restricted to clothing and fashion .

Some of these sports have existed for decades and their proponents span generations, some going on to become well known personalities. Rock climbing and ice climbing have spawned publicly recognisable names such as Edmund Hillary , Chris Bonington, rafting and more recently Joe Simpson . Another example is surfing , which was originally invented centuries ago by the native inhabitants of Hawaii. Several so-called extreme sports, include snowboarding, which was included in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games .

The term gained popularity with the advent of the X Game extreme sport equipment a made-for-television collection of events. Advertisers were quick to recognise the appeal of the event to the public, as a consequence competitors and organisers are not wanting sponsorship these days. The high profile of extreme sport and the culture surrounding them has also led people to invent jokey parodies, such as Extreme ironing urban housework extreme croquet , extreme unicycling , and extreme wheelbarrow .