Mike Metzger

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.

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. 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. He invented the heel clicker. (Frezno Smooth)