The Quest for Slopestyle in 2014

For many the word Olympic conjures up scenes of running tracks, athletes who hone their craft based on 4 year cycles and of course people competing in little more than a swimming costume. But that’s the Summer Olympics, and I love them, but to be honest I much prefer their colder, cooler brother, the Winter Olympics.

The Winter Olympics although an institution haven’t been around all too long, the first games were held in 1924 and the events bore no resemblance to what you might have seen on TV last spring. There was no concept of aerodynamics let alone a twin tip. In fact Snowboarding was yet to be invented, forget being an actual Olympic sport so needless to say it was pretty different to our whole modern concept of winter sports.

As an ex-ski racer (please dear god don’t tell ANYONE) I love the Olympics. When I was younger it was all about the pretty dresses and ladies whirling across the ice in the figure skating. I genuinely thought that Torvil and Dean were the happily ever after story of the sporting world, and I’m still waiting for my Christopher Dean to come sweep me off my feet. Then I started skiing seriously and I could watch the racing for hours, obsessed by the technical brilliance of the world’s best skiers competing for what surely is the highest accolade in ski racing, Alain Baxter briefly thrilled us all with his bronze, but like everything in British Ski racing, our high hopes were dashed (but more on that in another post).

Now I’m all about the cool kids in their baggy pants on boards and on skis generally defying gravity and logic. Freestyle and the Olympics, let’s face it they don’t go together. The Olympics by definition requires strict technical parameters and generally shirks creativity (Gymnastics scoring anyone?) but I think it’s missing out if it doesn’t seriously consider slopestyle as a new event.

The X Games has proven that slopestyle can work in a high octane event. Granted the X Games doesn’t have the same bureaucratic streak that runs deep in the IOC, but it’s a worthy model to look at. The IOC’s excuse for never considering slopestyle (and halfpipe until very recently) was that it didn’t have an structured competition schedule in the season, but now with the incredibly successful Dew Tour, TTR Tour and the X Games which now has a European leg, that excuse appears to be defunct.

Of course as a British girl there is a big reason that I’d like to see Slopestyle in Sochi and her name is Jenny Jones. 3 time X Games Slopestyle gold medallist and Britain’s finest chance at snow sports glory. She’s not only an amazing boarder, but having interviewed her, also a hell of a nice girl and someone who has really worked her way up. Unlike our upcoming generation of indoor snow slope wunderkinds, Jenny started a little later in life, did a season in Tignes, and now she’s winning gold medals in Tignes.

Jenny's Winning Run in Aspen:

Most importantly, the inclusion of girls in the pipe and slopestyle for men and women opens up the Olympics to a whole host of people who might not watch because they see it as part of the ‘establishment’. Yes, the Olympics might suddenly mean that we’re a bit more mainstream, but think of how much it would bring in terms of wider sponsorship and funding into the sport. If your audience grows, so does your capacity to achieve more and make competitions bigger and better.

At the end of the day, it’s a chance for the Winter Olympics to embrace some of the younger crowd who have no interest in racing or full body spandex. Skiing is cool, but it would appear that racing has lost its appeal to many kids out there who now look up to Bobby Brown as their idol instead of Bode Miller. 

Jon Olsson @ London Freeze

If it’s going to work the IOC need to compromise, get some people on board who have experience in the event, and be willing to work together to get the best of both worlds. If it starts to sound like work, the chances are many athletes won’t be interested because the foundations of these events lie in having fun and pushing yourself to get that grab because you enjoy it, not because you cynically believe that the judge will give you more points.

Case and point is the incredibly versatile and talented Jon Olsson. While I stood on the jump, there wasn’t one time that as he flew off the kicker in the air towards the landing that the man didn’t have a smile on his face. No matter how hard the trick he looked liked he was genuinely enjoying it, and that my friends is the attitude we want to preserve.
 

The IOC in October said that the level of competitors in slopestyle is not up to the required standard, and to that I have to say; well why don't you go and give it a go and see for yourself, you might be surprised.

I could go on about this subject for hours and look at all the angles and every option and direction to take, but i'm going to wrap it up and put my soap box away, as this is meant to be a lighthearted blog afterall! Hopefully in 2014 i'll be linking back to this post as I write about the slopestyle medals won in Russia in 2014, you never know!