snowboarding

In 1994 Snowboarding was declared as an Olympic Sport. Now it finally became accepted as a real competetive sport, not only a new trend which would disapear again. In the 1998 Olympics it was the first time ever that Snowboarding was accepted as an olympic sport. The new sport snowboarding was a huge success. But still people could find some of their prejudices about Snowboarders beeing affirmed: When the canadian boarder Ross Rebagliati ( second picture on the left) won the gold medal in the giant slalom he had to submit an urine sample. This sample showed that he was positive for marijuana with 17.8 nanograms per milliliter. Rebagliati said he did not smoke marijuana since April 1997. Instead the boarder stated he probably ihaled smoke on one of his friend's parties in Canada. His gold medal got taken away on the first day, but he got it back afterwards. The International Olympic Committee, lacking an agreement with the International Ski Federation on marijuana use, could not strip Rebagliati of his medal. This event had negative effects for all snowboarders, because it showed them in a very bad light. Many people now thought that Snowboarders constantly smoke Marijuana and saw their prejudices affirmed. Two years before, in 1996, Mike Hatchett released a new video, called TB5, featuring riders like Noak Salasneck and Johan Olofson. The riders did incredible stunts and tricks. Filmed in Alaska with its awesome footage the film is state of the art. In 1998, snowboarding contributes almost 50% to all winter activity. Most of the ski resorts now accept skiers and snowboarders. Snowboarding is finally accepted by everyone !