Sport of the Week – Olympic Snowboarding

Continuing our Winter Olympic theme, we present to you Snowboarding! Five major events for both […]

Continuing our Winter Olympic theme, we present to you Snowboarding! Five major events for both men and women with a sport that’s only been around 20 years. We go over the history and the best athlete to have participated. Raw notes below. Tune in every Monday for a new Sport of the Week.

Raw Episode Notes

Quick overview of what it is

People snowboard down a hill in different events

Where/When did it start

Snowboarding in general probably dates back to the first time someone was like, you know surfing? Lets do THAT, but on snow…on a board. And we’ll call it snowboarding
ACtual history says Michigan resident Sherman Poppen came up with the original prototype, which was dubbed the “Snurfer” or “snow surfer”. This was different from a snowboard in that there were no bindings and had a rope on the front to help glide over the snow
Developer of snowboard is a bit more tricky, but started to get poplar in the 1970s

Dimitrije Milovich used cafeteria trays
There’s more history, but it gets murkier

officially adopted as a formal discipline at the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games

Who plays it

Anywhere with snow

Events

Parallel Giant Slalom

Boarder v boarder, at least 18 gates, if you’re faster you win, 400-700m course length

Halfpipe

Jumps, twists, fancy shtuff, 6 judges for a total out of 100, highest/lowest score removed
Shaun White got a 100 in 2010 Winter X Games

Snowboard Cross (added 2006)

4 to 6 athletes go down the course at the same time. Jumps, sharp turns, tight quarters

Slopestyle (2010)

Rails, tables, walls, etc, different elements to trick off of. Potential for coolest tricks and combos

Big Air (added this year)

Similar to the half pipe, but large jumps on a downhill slope. No side to side. Biggest wipeouts

Best Known for the sport (gold/total)

United States 10/24
Switzerland 7/12
France 3/10
Canada 3/7
Russia 2/5

Shaun White (the Flying Tomato)

Won gold in halfpipe 2006 and 2010
13 golds in winter X Games
Got a 48.4 in 2010 halfpipe (when it was 50 point max)