AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2006 > February > 11 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USGen-Xers halfpiping, vibing way to prominence
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Turin, Italy — The most popular commercial leading into these Winter Olympics depicts a 20-year-old female snowboarder, whose nerves at the top of a hill are suddenly comforted by the security of her Visa card.
Skiing off air bumps into flips and rolls, NASCAR-worthy crashes in short-track speed skating (swapping Spandex in Talladega?), four-man snowboard races with a forearm shiver — when did the Olympics get high-jacked by MTV?
“I think it’s great,” said Eric Heiden, a five-time gold medal winner in just plain old boring speedskating in 1980 at Lake Placid. “I used to do short-track speed skating when I was a kid.”
So did he stop?
“I broke my arm and my leg,” he said. “At the age of 14, my dad said, ‘That’s enough.’ “
Somebody apparently felt the Winter Olympics needed something more than a Vitamin E shot. The IOC has all but put snowboarders like Nate Holland on the board of directors. New sports have infiltrated. It’s like an army of fluorescent green pants have executed a hostile take over of a Men’s Warehouse.
This is not to say that figure skating or the downhill are going away. They just don’t dominate the scene any more.
We have gone from giggling figure skaters to this: “I think I was 12 years old when I won my first event and I was, like, yeah, right on, man,” said Holland. And then he had to rush off to Mr. Hand’s house for a mandatory oral history exam because otherwise, like, he wasn’t going to be allowed into the senior prom. (Kidding.)
Lindsay Jacobellis (ladies halfpipe and SBX) has three major endorsement deals (Visa, Dunkin Donuts, Frosted Flakes). “Snowboard cross,” in which four competitors race down a hill and often collide, is debuting as an Olympic sport. NBC has gone X Games in its planned coverage. There’s enough evidence of a changing wind direction.
It almost makes a snowboarder stop and think, “Dude. Have I gone mainstream?”
“I’ll just say it’s a little bizarre to see where we’re at now,” said Seth Wescott, a medal favorite for snowboard cross.
“I grew up snowboarding at a time when it just wasn’t popular or accepted. I had adults spitting at me off chairlifts in the late ’80s because they didn’t want us on hills. Here I was, a 10-year-old kid feeling prejudice from adults. All I wanted to do was participate in something I had a passion for.”
Few athletes are typecast more than snowboarders: Spicoli in mittens. It follows that in 1998, the new Olympic sport became a global punchline when inaugural gold-medal winner Ross Rebagliati tested positive for marijuana — and, I assume, nacho cheese flavored Doritos.
The IOC stripped Rebagliati of his gold medal, but then reversed its decision after concluding the obvious: ganja is not a performance-enhancing drug.
“Rebagliati’s drug test overshadowed the sport in ‘98, and even in 2002 it only got attention because of the success of the U.S. athletes,” Wescott said. “But this year the Olympics has taken on an X Games type persona.”
Snowboard cross, much like the roller-derby-infused short-track speed skating, often leads to flared tempers between competitors.
As Holland neatly summarized: “There’s four guys on a course and sometimes there’s only room for two. So something’s gotta give. There’s some sharp elbows out there and people go down hard, and sometimes in the heat of competition there’s words exchanged.”
But no trash-talking at the top of the hill, at least not by Holland. “I just go through my routine, man,” he said. “I’m not vibing anyone up there.”
Of course not.
Holland used to ski. But he had this thing about blending.
“I got into snowboarding because it was the rebel thing to do,” he said. “So one day I left my ski pants at home and put on my ’80s acid-washed jeans, because I was just too cool for ski pants and went out there. I can’t believe it’s come this far.”
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Jeff Schultz, Other
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By Booger
February 11, 2006 06:40 PM | Link to this
Yawn, where’s the Braves Blog?
By brewerfaninATL
February 11, 2006 08:12 PM | Link to this
Who really gives a crap about the winter Olympics anyway? I couldn’t even name 75% of the events taking place and I really won’t lose any sleep if I never do! The only thing I was ever excited about the winter Olympics was the USA-Russia hockey game in 1980…and that was only because there was nothing else to watch on TV! It was an exciting game though! Oh well, when does Spring Training start?
By northwestDAWG
February 12, 2006 08:59 AM | Link to this
Thr Down Hill skier, this new 4 man stuff, and the new events that have been added, have the making of a great Olympics. I never bacame good enough to ski the “Black Diamond” slopes, Blue/Black was about it, but every time I went down those Colorado slopes I thought about the”Down Hill Racer”. I can’t name 75% of the events either but WHO CARES? It’s the compition that matters. The Braves? Plesaeeeeeeeee, give me a break. We don’t know what will happen in the Olympics but we do know that the Braves will win another Division crown and choke again in the playoffs. So the “Games” have begun
By ron
February 12, 2006 11:24 AM | Link to this
mr.schultz it don’t seem that you’re getting much interest in the olympics.the problem has to due with persons not interested in the events and there is a time difference in which people know about the results prior to nbc’s taped delayed events.the best news out of the games so far is that KWAN has pulled out due to her injury.i felt that she didn’t deserve to go in the first place since she failed to compete, injuries are part of sports and if it keeps one from competition so be it.
By Little Cindy
February 12, 2006 01:11 PM | Link to this
Jeff, can you tell us about the best curling competition you ever witnessed? Was it as exciting as your current blog? Are you dumbing down the AJC to appeal to your current subscriber base?