Snowboarding - Part C - by Anne Shier (a.k.a. "Annie")

(Based on the book, “Winter Olympics:  An Insider’s Guide to the Legends, the Lore, and the Games”, Vancouver Edition, copyright 2008 by Ron C. Judd)

For years, Ross Rebagliatti enjoyed a lucrative sponsorship deal with Roots, then the Canadian Olympic Committee’s primary sportswear sponsor.  He’s even threatened to make a comeback for the Vancouver Games.

Good luck to him there.  From that rough, foggy, scandal-plagued start in the mountains of Japan, Olympic snowboarding has grown by leaps and bounds, in both quality and fan attention.

When organizers increased the size of the pipe, the Games’ halfpipe contest grew, both in big air and fan appreciation.  In the Salt Lake 2002 Games, the halfpipe contest – swept by Americans, in the men’s division – stood as a highlight, in terms of both crowd response and television ratings.

The sport has come a long way since Ross Rebagliatti clung to his gold medal in a Nagano police station.  In the end, they couldn’t take it away from him.  Nor will they ever take away his legacy as the first-ever snowboarder gold medalist.

It’s safe to say that no rider alive, past, present or future will ever leave a smoke trail like Ross.

SPECTATOR’S GUIDE:

Because of its fast-paced action, soaring jumps, and spectacular wipeouts, snowboarding has quickly grown from a stepchild Olympic sport to a true fan favourite.

Field of Play:

Snowboarding is contested on slopes with heavy degrees of human shaping.  The halfpipe, where freestyle snowboarding takes place, is a carved snow trough, about 110 metres (360 feet) long, 13 to 17 metres (42 to 56 feet) wide, with walls about 3.5 metres (11.5 feet) high.  The parallel giant slalom course is much like that used in alpine skiing for a giant slalom.  A set of gates is set 7 to 15 metres (23 to 50 feet) apart over a vertical drop of 120 to 250 metres (394 to 800 feet) so racers can compete side by side, making turns all the way down the course.  Snowboard cross courses are long, undulating trails – just barely wide enough if all four competitors were to run side by side – with a series of whoop-de-do jumps.

copyright 2014, Anne Shier.  All rights reserved.