The Heroes of Snowboarding

Over the last decade, snowboarding has gained massive amounts of popularity. Known in its earlier days as an extreme winter sport, snowboarding made its debut at the Winter X Games in 1997. Since that time it has become an annual event and seemingly more extreme, when young men and women from around the world compete for medals, bragging rights, and potentially lucrative sponsorships as well. The best snowboarding competitions of all time have taken place over the last five years, not only at the Winter X Games, but on the world stage at the Winter Olympics. The name “Shaun White” and the term “snowboarding” are usually part of the same sentence. Also known as “The Flying Tomato,” White has captured more medals than any other snowboarder to date, and can be seen in many a snowboarding photo and snowboard videos. In 2006 at the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, he went up against 40 entrants altogether, and by the end of the day he made it to the final run, along with Danny Kass, Markku Koski, and Mason Aguirre. Following an intense battle of sheer determination, White ended up with the top score; Kass took the silver and Koski edged out Aguirre for the bronze. Female snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics had their own battles to contend with. Deemed as one of the most memorable races of the entire competition, the Women’s Snowboard Cross unfolded in exciting fashion, and ended with a frustrating twist. During the gold medal run, Lindsey Jacobellis had a comfortable lead over Tanja Frieden, with about 100 meters to go. Coming over the last jump before the finish line, Jacobellis went for the “method grab,” a maneuver that landed her in second place. She ended up falling just short of finish line while Frieden jumped ahead; by fractions of a second, the race was decided. Four years later in Vancouver, British Columbia, snowboarding once again managed to grab the spotlight. The Super-pipe event at the 2010 Winter Olympics on Cypress Mountain took center stage. Four competitors vied for position until the second-to-last run: Iouri Podladtchikov, Shaun White, Scott Lago, and Peetu Piiroinen. Piiroinen presented the biggest threat, but Shaun White stole the show with a 1080 grab and locked up the gold. His last run involved the highest degree of difficulty, pulling off a 1260 grab Double McTwist, making it the most notable of all.

Also, let's not forget about Torah Bright on the female side, who became of the most recognisable snowboadring riders of the last 4 years.