8 Famous Extreme Athletes Who Suffered Extreme Injuries Doing What They Love

Feb. 23, 2012— -- intro:Adrenaline junkies who live to catch big air or shred a race course at top speeds have fueled a booming competitive community that wants to push the human body to the extreme.

Extreme sport competitions such as the X Games and Core Tour were born out of athletes who live and breathe BASE-jumping off 2,000-foot cliffs, landing 1,080-degree turns on skis and performing triple flips on motocross bikes.

However, these stunts have often proved to be dangerous and even the best daredevils have suffered unimaginable injuries, some fatal, doing what they love.

quicklist: 1category: title: Jeb Corliss, BASE Jumperurl: media:15382306text: Famed BASE-Jumper Jeb Corliss suffered devastating injuries after he smashed into some rocks at 120 miles-per-hour during a jump in South Africa.

Corliss, 35, who has made a name for himself making more than 1,000 jumps, including from landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge, said he was convinced that this was the jump that had killed him.

"One part of my brain was just going through this concept of fly, fly, fly, fly, keep going, keep going, and then the other part of my brain was like going, well, why even pull at all, basically you're dead, dude," Corliss told ABC News' Dan Harris in an exclusive phone interview from the South African hospital room where he is recuperating from the crash.

Despite his severe injuries, Corliss said he will continue jumping for the rest of his life.

"That's what I live for," Corliss told Harris. "The only reason I'm getting better is so that I can jump again," he said. "That's what I do. There's absolutely nothing in this world that's going to stop me from jumping."

Read ABC News' Katie Kindelin's full story HERE

quicklist: 2category: title: Sarah Burke, Freestyle Skierurl: media:15341076text: Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, a gold-metal hopeful heading into the 2014 Winter Olympics, died on Jan. 19 after sustaining a traumatic brain injury in an accident on a half-pipe course in Utah.

The 29-year-old Winter X Games champion and 2005 half-pipe world gold medalist suffered "severe irreversible damage to her brain due to lack of oxygen and blood after cardiac arrest," according to a statement from Burke's publicist.

Freestyle skiing is something of a daredevil sport, a sort of trick skiing that uses the half-pipe, which is normally used by snowboarders. Burke, who was described as a "pioneer in the sport," was training for the 2012 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., when she was injured.

Burke's accident occurred on the same course where snowboarder and Olympic medalist Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2009.

Read ABC News' Lauren Sher's full story HERE

quicklist: 3category: title: Kevin Pearce, Snowboarderurl: media:15165745text: It took Olympic snowboarder Kevin Pearce years to get back on his board after suffering a traumatic brain injury while on a halfpipe run in Utah.

In 2009, the 24-year-old fell into a coma after slamming his head while practicing a complex stunt, and it seemed doubtful he would ever return to the sport he mastered; doctors weren't even sure he would ever walk again.

But Pearce battled through two years of intensive rehabilitation and regained his ability to not only talk, walk and eat but to get back on the slopes.

"I can't even explain what I've been through, to really get away and get on snow is just so special and I never knew it would be like that. When I was doing it two years ago, I took it all for granted," Pearce told the Denver Post in December.

Read ABC News' Kim Carollo's full story HERE

quicklist: 4category: title: Mat "The Condor" Hoffman, BMX Bikerurl: media:15776295text: BMX legend Mat Hoffman, nicknamed The Condor, has had 22 surgeries to repair his broken body after sustaining severe injuries during stunts and competitions.