How The Times Are Changing

Snowboarding has been an Olympic sport since 1998 when it was introduced in Nagano Japan. Most people couldn’t tell you that Gian Simmen won gold or even that American Ross Powers took home the bronze, but they could probably remember that a snowboarder, Ross Rebagliati, had his medal stripped and later returned after testing positive for Marijuana.

Snowboarders were seen as a bunch of drug using, jobless, outcasts that were a menace to society. I will admit that most reputations are built upon a foundation of truth, but the fact is skiers (who felt threatened) more than anyone else perpetuated these images. To have the first snowboarder to win a gold medal test positive for marijuana only helped confirm what people already fairly or unfairly thought. Personally I think snowboarding as a sport, industry, and activity was a lot more fun when people hated us.

The biggest story in the snowboarding world at the Nagano Olympics wasn’t Rebagliati’s marijuana test, but rather that the best snowboarder in the world, Terje Haakonsen, was boycotting the Olympics due to the IOC giving a skiing organization control over the snowboarding events. You might think that is crazy, but imagine the far and away best sprinter in the world was not participating in the Olympics because the IOC was having cycling’s governing body oversee everything related to sprinting. It made no sense then and it makes no sense now.

Fast-forward to 2002 and the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. The Americans weren’t fairing as well as hoped and had a low medal count. Suddenly everything changed. Ross Powers, Danny Kass, and JJ Thomas swept the Men’s Snowboard Half Pipe Event earning the United States their first Winter Olympic medal sweep in 46 years. The sport that was a social outcast had made history and was being embraced by everyone for the first time ever. Ross Powers was doing the biggest backside airs since Ingemar Backman’s display of insanity at Riksgransen. This vaulted snowboarding into the mainstream spotlight it had been hiding from forever.

Eight years later and another Winter Olympics is before us. Riders like Shaun White and Gretchen Bleiler have become household names and the face of major corporate sponsors like American Express, Target, and Hewlett Packard. The more things change, the more things stay the same. Travis Rice, the best snowboarder in the world, won’t be riding in these Olympics. I am about to take a big educated guess here, but it isn’t far fetched. He isn’t boycotting them, but instead doing what he loves, snowboarding. I am sure he is learning new tricks, filming, and pushing the sport to levels it hasn’t been or even dreamed of going.

Next month the world’s gaze will focus on Vancouver and snowboarding will be the center of attention. You will hear people talk about the sport and act like the Olympics are really important to snowboarders. Remember they aren’t. Representing your country is a huge honor and it surely makes moms and dads proud, but that isn’t why people do it. We ride because it is fun and no amount of medals will ever make me smile like a powder day.