Las Vegas Weekly

January 5, 2009 · 1:28 PM

Exclusive Interview: Robbie Maddison is on the mend from injury and says of NYE jump: ‘I was terrified’

By Robin Leach

Robbie Maddison.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

For the first time, motorcycle stunt king Robbie Madison has revealed just how close he came to death with his incredible leap to the top of the Arc de Triomphe at Paris Las Vegas on the Strip on New Year’s Eve.

“My eyes were flooded, and my vision was blurred on takeoff,” he admitted in an exclusive interview with me before he left town over the weekend. “I waved to the people out there before the jump as if everything was fine, but, being brutally honest, I was terrified. I realized at that very moment, I was mad to be doing this.

“When that g-force hit me, I knew I’d made one error that could have proved fatal. I left the ramp wrong and realized on the way up my body weight was too far back -- a matter of fractions, but enough where I could have lost control. Believe it or not, but I had to move my body just a little bit further forward mid-air, otherwise I might have hit the arch and crashed backwards to the ground instead of getting up, over and down into it. If I hadn’t forced myself through the g-force, I’d have been a goner.”

Photo: Christian Pondella/Red Bull

Robbie Maddison.

I asked Robbie to look with me at the frightening freefall photo we posted as our main picture on Vegas DeLuxe the morning after the jump. “I’ve never seen a drop like this,” he admitted. “I was terrified. I wanted to be sick. You can practice all you like, but when you get on site and actually see it without protections and all the risks are in place there, that’s when fatal errors can happen.

“The funny thing, though, was that even though I was terrified, my heart wasn’t beating fast. I kept saying to myself, ‘I’m not crazy, and I’m not risking my life,’ even though afterwards I knew I was!”

Vegas DeLuxe readers know now that Robbie was taken to a hospital after injuring his left hand on the hard landing when his bike shuddered and almost broke in two. “I felt my hand tear,” he confessed. “I honestly thought it was broken. The doctors, though, gave me about 10 stitches, bandages and a small cast but were more worried about any internal injuries I might have sustained. To me, although there was blood, after everything I’ve been through and done to my body in the past with injuries, this was little more than a paper cut. It’s already on the mend!

“It was definitely the high-tension moment of the whole experience. I said to myself, ‘I guess I am pretty mad.’ When I was in the hospital waiting for the doctors, I got sick to my stomach. There was this relief that swept over me that I’d succeeded, but at the same time, I know I’d punished myself. Worse, I had made my new fiancee Amy suffer even more than me. I should never have put her through this. I did apologize to her.”

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Robbie Maddison's left hand before the New Year's Eve accident.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

Robbie Maddison's left hand after the New Year's Eve accident.

Despite the injury and drama, Aussie native Robbie, 27, has no plans to stop jumping. He told me: “I want to continue. I’m captive to this and want to create something even more spectacular. I was focused on this jump for such a long time, and I’m going to enjoy it for a little while, but soon I know I will get restless to find something even more incredible than this. I’m not sure what to do next, but we’ll look for another amazing landmark we can jump from or to or over.”

He said he’d be ready, willing and able to return for another New Year’s Eve ESPN televised spectacular in 12 months time. I eyeballed the Eiffel Tower replica at the Paris and nudged him. “I’ll keep that one in mind” was the most I could get out of him at that moment! “I love Vegas and would certainly like to come back to do something bigger, better and even crazier here.”

And just how does a self-confessed madman relax in the midst of all this jump insanity? I learned that three times in the past few days, he’d unwound by taking speed laps in the mini-racecars at the Pole Position Raceway opposite the Palms Place condo-tower! He also had dinner at N9NE steakhouse in the Palms with my Las Vegas neighbor here, ESPN reporter Jamie Little, and his fellow daredevil Rhys Millen of New Zealand, who successfully backflipped his off-road truck at The Rio during the ESPN TV special Red Bull New Year, No Limits.

Check out www.vegasdeluxe.com for all of our previous stories and photos of Robbie and Rhys’ jumps.

In his latest blog, Robbie wrote: “I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone out there that tuned in and watched and supported me for my greatest feat thus far, my 322 feet 7 inches on New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas over a football field. It has been amazing to get all the kind words from everyone around the world -- I really appreciate it. The New Year’s Eve jump was something that I had been working on for a long time, and to see it pull off on the world’s stage was something out of this world for me. Red Bull and ESPN put a lot on the line for me, and I was so thrilled that they all believed in me and made my dream a reality. The Red Bull experiment is only the start of something great for me and long-distance jumping. I want to take it to a whole other realm and really show everyone out there what is possible on a dirt bike. For everyone out there concerned that I may not still compete in FMX, I just wanted to let you all know that it is still a top priority for me to achieve greatness in the FMX scene. I have a full FMX calendar in 2009, as well as some long-distance feats that should be really interesting to watch.”

— From Vegas Deluxe

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