The term extreme sports is not connected to a specific discipline of sports. It is rather a characterization for any kind of sports that inherits a high risk of danger and uncontrollable variables. The variables are mostly weather and territory.

Most extreme sports are individual activities like Bungee Jumping, Parkour, Motocross or Kite surfing. The expression extreme sports became popular in the 1990s as a marketing term to promote functional equipment and clothing.

Some press associated extreme sports negatively with environmental pollution but a lot has changed over the last years. Often extreme sportsmen now use their sports to point out environmental problems and shed light on the problems of certain regions in the world.