The First Step On The Road To The Olympics
anniefast
- November 05 2009
- 24 comments
If you remember, a while back we filled you in on Olympic eligibility. The Grand Prix is the U.S. Olympic qualifying series, but in order to to compete in the Olympics, everyone needs a top 30 finish in one World Cup event between September 2008 and January 18, 2010. U.S. Snowboarding Head Coach Mike Jankowski cleared up that, “This is the FIS rule that basically makes sure anyone who ends up in the Olympics is competitive at an international level.” (Sometimes referred to as the Jamaican Bobsled rule … ouch.)
Kevin Pearce. PHOTO: Cole Barash
Today, one of the top worldwide contenders for the Olympic halfpipe podium only just qualified to compete for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team at the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup at Saas Fe, Switzerland. This summer, Kevin Pearce probably had planned to hit up the Burton New Zealand Open and then follow that up with a stop at the Cardrona World Cup to secure his top 30 spot (Shaun White, Mason Aguirre, Luke Mitrani, Scotty Lago, Gretchen Bleiler, and Kelly Clark among others all qualified here), but Kevin instead broke his foot at the Mammoth Frends pipe session in the spring and so missed that World Cup. The Saas event today was his last chance to get a top 30 World Cup placing—now, there’s no doubt that he would have any trouble qualifying in top 30, but the ‘what ifs’ were there: what if his flight got canceled or he lost his passport, what if he came down with swine flu, what if he overslept. Anyway, the news from Saas Fe just came in and it’s good—Kevin Pearce qualified in twelfth place and can now compete in the Grand Prix tour for a spot on the Olympic Team; fellow Frend Jack Mitrani also got his top 30 placement. Kazu Kokubo of Japan qualified in first, Mathieu Crepel of France came in second, and Peetu Piiroinen of Finland was third. Australian Torah Bright won it for the ladies.
Kevin Pearce, Saas Fe World Cup. PHOTO: FIS-Florian Ruth
The first stage of US Olympic halfpipe qualifying is done. Now on to the Grand Prix, the first stop is is December 12 at Copper Mountain, Colorado.
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November 5th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
No one cares
November 5th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
bahahahahaaaa turee
November 5th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Super gay!!! Figure Skating and Snowboarding all under the same roof. Sweet!!!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
LONG LIVE TERJE !!!!!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
i know we are all a bunch of lazy skeezy snowboarders, but have some pride… america fuck yea
November 5th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
I liken the olympics to the Van Halen break up. You were either on David Lee Roth's side or you were on the wrong side. FIS blows.
That being said, SNOWBOARDING as a collective group/industry whatever you want to call it, could have taken the proper steps, and arguably could still do some things to get their own governing body. SKATEBOARDING saw the mistakes and are TRYING to take some steps to avoid being put under cycling's rule (you know, because they have wheels that spin). HOWEVER, not enough people saw Terje's vision, and got greedy for the gold and now we have situations like this, where it's even questionable if Kevin Pearce is "competitive on an international level."
If you aren't involved in the industry boycott by not watching the coverage. Why the hell is TWSnow even supporting this bullshit. You are one of the main media outlets for snowboarding and this is a heavy indication of where your loyalties lie.
November 5th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
waaawaaawaaaa snowboarding is too cool for the olympics waaaaaaaaaaaaa, uninformed mufuckas is what you is.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:05 am
So what would the proper steps to take be, if snowboarding wanted a governing body. What would the governing body do actually, tell us we can't grab tindy?
Its not questionable if Kevin Pearce is "competitive on and international level". The article starts off with, "Today, one of the top worldwide contenders…..". There is no situation here, so wtf are u whining about.
The article is about how Kevin Pearce just barely made it into the Olympics, because he broke his foot.
Transworld Snowboarding is the media for snowboard. TWS reports on news that relates to snowboarding.
Qualifying for the Olympic snowboarding Halfpipe event is snowboarding related news. Clearly TWS loyalties lie with media coverage of SNOWBOARDING.
There is no industry boycott on Olympic snowboarding events. Not watching the olympic snowboarding events is like not watching the super bowl because you think that football should still be played without pads, sponsors, coverage, and a real pigskin. I bet you'll still watch it.
Snowboarding is in the olympics, get used to it. Quit whining and go punch a pillow.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:32 am
look at that booter in the background… damn
November 6th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Excuse me, for my grammatical errors and lack of clear communication as to my point. I should have done a better job articulating my thoughts.
If you are not involved in the snowboarding industry, thus meaning you don't have a direct line of communication to any of the powers that be, and by "direct line" I mean, a line of communication with any sort of influence whatsoever, AND you are not happy with FIS and the way that it governs snowboarding in he Olympics, THEN you should do what you can on a grassroots level to show your disdain.
How can you do this? By simple things like not watching the events, thus not adding to the Television ratings. In case you weren't aware TV ratings for the Olympics (especially winter) have seen some decline in the "recent" past. OR you could write a letter to your favorite company (not that it would do much, but hey, you never know) and ask if they are doing anything to aid the process of snowboarding freeing itself from the FIS's rule.
Now, with regard to TWSnow. I may have been a bit inflammatory in the way I chose to express my thoughts. The bottom line is that I have not been happy with the way that TWSnow has covered the sport for a long time. In reality it's a probably more of a problem with print media in general, but I won't get into that. I just don't good feeling that I used to get when I picked up the mag in the past (Fortunately they have really good photogs and I like looking at pictures)
And football is still played with no pds, its called Rugy or Aussie Rules Football and it's about 10 times cooler than real football. But I guess the fact that you even brought up football or the super bowl in a snowboarding thread shows me where you fall on the David Lee Roth/Van Halen spectrum.
November 6th, 2009 at 1:07 am
Thanks for the post transworld, you guys have The best snowboarding website in the world.
Frends Crew Y'all
November 6th, 2009 at 1:51 am
Haha that was the first thing that ran into my mind, Travis Rice probably had that specially made for him and he was towed in by a snowmobile and did a double rodeo 1080……that's my guess anyway
November 6th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Can I be in your crew?
November 6th, 2009 at 4:14 am
hahahahahaha i totally didnt notice kevin pearce for a second i was like HOLY SHIT that kicker is like a 100 foot table!
November 6th, 2009 at 5:26 am
haha, sure bud! Most of our crew is actually gonna be riding mammoth this weekend for their second opening. Come up.
Frends Crew
November 6th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
off topic, but the pics in the link are disgusting … totally FIS style
November 6th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
People that bash on the Olympics are lame. If you don't like it don't watch it. The hate on those who snowboard in the Olympics is embarrassing because these are people who love what they do and want to compete with and against the best in the world and promote the sport they love to the world.
When people post comments about how "gay" the Olympics are it makes you look ignorant, especially when what you consider NOT to be "gay" is a bunch of guys together for long rode trips wearing tight pants (in some cases) and hitting a rail.
Grow-up and grow with the sport you love so much.
November 6th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Guy in the sky …
November 6th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
p.s. As far as the tight pants/baggy pants thing, I have no qualms about either. Pants are what you wear. As long as no one wears shorts in the future.
And I love street because it allows for massive creativity. Pipe and Back-country are simply becoming insane with double-rodeos and 100 ft + gaps.
I'm scared to think what will happen in a few years. We just have a board attached to us and FMX riders flip their bikes twice.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
you're retarded. tw can cover whatever the fuck they want.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
do you know how i know that you're gay?
November 8th, 2009 at 7:28 am
obviously a fake…k pearce would know how to spell his own name
November 9th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
some are just half guy in the sky!!!!, LOL
November 25th, 2009 at 5:44 am
ha ha!!!! so right! preach it brotha! ha ha