[tchanson]

The Times had a story today. Text shown below, as site might require new users to register.

Tim

February 6, 2004

Letterman Visits Injured Snowboarder

NEW YORK (AP) -- A champion snowboarder performing a routine stunt for David Letterman's late-night TV show veered off a ramp outside the show's theater and fell 25 feet to the ground Thursday.

Snowboarder Tara Dakides was taken to a hospital and was listed in stable condition after receiving stitches -- and a visit from Letterman.

``The only thing I am upset about is that the French judge only gave me a 5.6,'' Dakides quipped from her hospital bed, according to her spokesman.

Witnesses said the 28-year-old Dakides, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., made two successful jumps on the U-shaped ramp, set up on 53rd Street in Manhattan outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, and then fell off the ramp on her third attempt.

``She came down at an angle and she just went off the side of the ramp and landed on her back,'' said Dave Riddle, of Orlando, Fla., a bus driver.

Dakides, a snowboard competitor since 1993, was in New York to showcase her talents on the Letterman show and discuss the silver medal she just earned at the 2004 X Games.

Dakides has finished first in several X Games events, dominating slopestyle, according to the EXPN.com site.

Letterman's executive producer, Rob Burnett, said he hoped that Dakides ``makes a full and complete recovery and that she'll be back on the `Late Show' soon.''

The CBS show regularly tapes stunts on the streets outside the studio.

Because of the accident, the ``Late Show'' stopped taping Thursday and planned to air a repeat episode Thursday night.