it was pretty sick. and i choose matt hoffman for non snow sports. sadly, for winter sports i choose shawn white. as much as we hate the ginger, he opened up a huge gap for media on winter sports.
I was going to say Shaun White as well, as over hyped as he is. He brought a ton of attention to Winter X even if it was just to snowboarding pipe, it was much needed.
Probably Tony Hawk, after he landed that 720? back in 1999 and there was a lot of media coverage about it, and the video game of course.
White and Pastrana over the last few years by pushing the envelope of tricks.
Glen Plake for skiing, perhaps?