Late BMX rider Dave Mirra found to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy

Dave Mirra, the star BMX rider who took his own life in February, had CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain disease linked to head trauma.

The condition was diagnosed by neuropathologists at the University of Toronto and the Canadian Concussion Center, where Mirra's brain was examined after his death.

"It's assumed it is related to multiple concussions that happened years before," Dr. Lili-Naz Hazrati told ESPN.

Mirra won 14 gold medals at the X Games and helped popularise freestyle BMX, in which riders perform tricks on bicycles on the ground and soaring through the air. In 2000, he became the first person to land a double back flip in a competition.

He endorsed numerous products, including a video game series.

Freestyle BMX is a dangerous sport that leads to many crashes and injuries, and Mirra was a victim of many. In a 2006 crash, he told The Washington Post, "I basically fell 16 feet straight to my head." He was also hit by a car at age 19, suffering a fractured skull.

Mirra died in February in Greenville, North Carolina. He was 41.

CTE can only be diagnosed from a brain examination after death. Dozens of American football players have been found to have had it, including Frank Gifford, Junior Seau and Ken Stabler.

The disease affects memory, cognitive function and mood. "I started to notice changes in his mood," his wife, Lauren, told ESPN. "And then it quickly started to get worse. He wasn't able to be present in any situation or conversation, so it was hard to be in a relationship with him to any degree."

The Mirra family, like many families of former NFL players, decided to pursue posthumous brain testing to learn if he had the condition. Lauren Mirra said she planned to start "a platform for CTE awareness and research."

The New York Times