From Terje to the Flying Red Tomato: Snowboarding's Incorporation into the Olympic Games

When Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati rode to victory in the first Olympic snowboarding event at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games, he became an instant Canadian hero. His name became synonymous with snowboarding, and the win was publicized in the media on a grandiose scale. Within a few days of his victory, the IOC stripped Rebagliati of his gold medal for testing positive for traces of marijuana. Although his medal was returned to him, Canada's 'toke-in' hero's once pristine image was tainted forever. After the 1998 Games, a public identity of the rebellious Olympic sport became solidified. Less than a decade later, the media embraced Shaun White, the winner of the snowboarding half-pipe at the 2006 Torino Olympics. The Flying Red Tomato became the golden boy of the Olympic Games, and his triumph reaffirmed his rock star status among riders, the media, and spectators alike. The Olympic Games are part of the larger hegemonic institution of sport, which acts as a vehicle for the values, and meanings of the dominant culture. When alternative activities, such as snowboarding, emerge within this system, new meanings, values, and practices are created. The dominant culture sets limits to, neutralizes, and controls all forms of alternative or counter-cultural activities. The strength of the hegemonic process is displayed when emergent activities with a different ethos are reinterpreted and altered into forms that do not contradict elements of the dominant culture and appear commonplace. The main purpose of this study is to examine snowboarding's admission to, and involvement in, the Olympic Games. More specifically, this study will explore the shifts within snowboarding culture using Williams' concepts of dominant and emergent cultures within the hegemonic process. (1) Using Rebagliati and White as primary examples, the paper will analyze how snowboarding's emergence within the dominant framework of the Olympic Games and its image was both regulated and renewed to control its position within the hegemonic system. Snowboarders in Exile: 1980s and Early 1990s The formal roots of snowboarding have been traced back to the 1960s when activities such as Frisbee throwing, hot dog skiing, surfing, skateboarding, and sport parachuting defined the new leisure movement. (2) The sport of surfing was the initial influence upon the development of all board sports. In the 1960s, surfing possessed a distinct style, fashion, language, and media industry. Surfing represented Southern California, eternal childhood, freedom, quirkiness, remaining outside the mainstream or 'square' scene, and above all, FUN! (3) It propagated a lifestyle that people could adopt without experiencing the act of surfing itself. Many of the early pioneers of snowboarding identified with this lifestyle and viewed snowboarding as a winter alternative to surfing. As a derivative of surfing, skateboarding also had a tremendous impact on the evolution of snowboarding. One interviewee recalled: I think that skateboarding was the thing that brought most people [to snowboarding] in the early stages...I was basically ordering my stuff from California basically blind or whatever and had no idea what was coming in ... the stuff was pretty cheap but it was the only place to get it from. (4) During the 1970s and 1980s, members of the punk subculture embraced the sport of skateboarding and influenced indirectly the development of snowboarding. Disgusted with the political failure of the counterculture of the 1960s to amend the social, economic, and cultural institutions of America, many members of the punk subculture endorsed the philosophy of Yippie leader Jerry Rubin: People should do whatever the fuck they want. (5) Whereas the previous counterculture promoted universal free expression, punks encouraged individuals to be innovative and unique in every sphere of their lives, even to the extent that being socially different and offensive was commended. …

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