Olympic Snowboarding
Olympic Snowboarding is a recent addition to the roster of sports in the Winter Games. Under this sport are several events, namely: the halfpipe, giant slalom, and the snowboard cross. All that and more will be discussed in this article.
History
The sport of Snowboarding has been around since the 1950s, invented by surfers who wanted to try out a new terrain to test their skills on the board. Their pieces of equipment then were handmade until the arrival of Sherman Poppen's Snurfer in the 1960s.
It gained popularity in the 1980s, although the majority of snow resorts were still unwilling to allow Snowboarding in their area. This changed a decade later when more and more resorts allowed the sport in their slopes. Along with it came the clamor for Snowboarding to be recognized as an Olympic event.
The demand was heard in 1999 when it became an event in the Nagano Games in Japan. Its entry was filled with controversy first with the choice of the International Skiing Federation as its governing body a year earlier and the doping charges on gold medalist Ross Rebagliati which led him to get stripped of his medal. However, he won the case and got it back.
Olympic Snowboarding gained further acclaim in 2006 Torino Games with the help of the 19-year-old champion Shaun White who won the gold in the men's halfpipe.
Events
As mentioned earlier, there are currently three events in the world of Olympic Snowboarding: the halfpipe, giant slalom and snowboard cross. Each of these events is divided into men's and women's categories.
Of the three events, only the halfpipe and the giant slalom were originally a part of the Winter Olympics. In Torino, the snowboard cross event was finally added.
Future Winter Olympic Games
As of now, there are two confirmed Olympic venues for the future Winter Olympic Games. Vancouver will be hosting the 2010 Games and is already making preparations for the said event. The Canadian city won the bidding wars in 2003 against two other cities: PyeongChang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. While PyeongChang won the first round of the bidding 51-41-16 against Vancouver and Salzburg, respectively, Vancouver beat it in the second round by only 3 votes, 56-53.
Meanwhile, the Russian city of Sochi won the bid for the 2014 Winter Games. It beat the same cities that lost the bidding war for the 2010 Games, PyeongChang and Salzburg. Again, PyeongChang led in the first round of bidding, 36-34,25 against Sochi and Salzburg, respectively. However, Sochi won the bidding war, 51-47.
With the addition of Snowboarding as an Olympic event, the Winter Olympics has become an even more exciting sport to watch. You can be sure that it will only get better as the years go by!
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