|
MAIN
Sports
Olympic Games
Olympic Snowboard
©
LaPresse
|
In Northern
California the winter can be, like - boring for surfers, dude!
So in the
1960's, with nowhere else to go, a group of surf and sun enthusiastics
headed for the snow-covered California slopes. In no time at all,
it seemed, snowboarding became the hip winter scene in California.
Media attention
soon followed as millions around the world witnessed surfboarders
riding the frozen "surf" in spectacular moves executed
by a few of the world's first snowboarding
pioneers.
The sport's
popularity skyrocketed, (as did skateboarding)
while snowboarder demand resulted in a shorter, stronger redesign
of the traditional surfboard to fit the harsher conditions of
mountain snow.
Throughout
the early 80's, local amateur contests led to a national US competition
in 1983, followed by the first World International Snowboard Federation
Championship in Ischgl, Austria in 1993. A year later, the FIS
hosted its first World Cup, and at FIS urging, snowboarding was
finally introduced to the Winter Games at Nagano in 1998.
In addition
to the Half Pipe and Giant Slalom competitions, the Parallel Giant
Slalom was introduced at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
Perhaps the
most spectacular competition of all is yet to come at the Turino
Games in 2006 with the debut of the Snowboard
Cross, consisting of four riders executing moves such as whoops,
waves, banks, spines and kickers in a NASCAR-like race to the
finish.
U.S. Olympic snowboarders we watched
in 2006:
Lindsey
Jacobellis - aka "Lucky Lindsay" has
been nearly unbeatable in the snowboardcross event for the past
three years and is a best bet to take home gold. An attractive
blond with a big smile, Jacobellis drew the notice of Seventeen
magazine who featured her in a photo spread in 2004...
Seth
Wescott - Often photographed with Lindsey Jacobellis holding
up their respective wins in the women's and men's snowboard cross
(SBX) competitions, Wescott
has taken four U.S. national championships and is a seven-time
SBX medalist at the X Games. In
2005, he became SBX world champion, and goes on to the 2006 Winter
Olympics as an odds-on favorite to take the gold.
Chris
Klug
- A bronze medal winner at the Salt Lake City Games, Klug made
history by becoming the only liver transplant patient to win a
medal at the Olympics when he took bronze for the Parallel Giant
Slalom in 2002. Today, he uses his noteriety as a spokesperson
for donor awareness. A broken collar bone at the 2005
Winter X Games in snowboardcross has slowed his pace, but
odds are he will battle back for a shot at the 2006 Olympics.
Hannah
Teter
- She is tops on the snowboarding halfpipe circuit, and family
genes play a part in her success - with mom and dad both amateur
halfpipe snowboarding enthusiasts, and brothers Abram and Elijah
members of the U.S. National Team.
More about Olympic snowboarding around
the Web:
International
Olympic Committee - Snowboard - Overview
of the snowboard competitions, list of events, Olympic records,
athlete profiles, picture gallery, related links.
FIS
Ski - Snowboard - The International Federation offering
snowboard news, rules and regulations, results and standings,
athlete biographies, pictures, Olympic medal winners.
United
States Olympic Committee - Snowboarding - Keep up to date
with hotdogging headlines, feature stories and news releases.
United
States of America Snowboard Association - News and information,
results and standings, links to host resorts, photo gallery,
U.S.
Snowboard Team - Latest news, feature stories, photo gallery,
athlete profiles, downloadable wallpaper.
also
see feature story -> Snowboarding
- Snow Sports Turned Upside Down
also
in Winter Olympics -> Alpine
Skiing | Biathlon
| Bobsled
Cross-country
Skiing | Curling
| Figure
Skating | Freestyle
Skiing
Ice
Hockey | Luge
| Nordic
Combined | Short-Track
Skating
Skeleton | Ski
Jumping | Speed
Skating
|