Surfing Can Learn From Snowboardings Olympic Mistakes | They “found out the hard way about the harsh realities of drug testing… “
Snowboarding is now the most popular winter sport in the Olympics, but at what cost? Now that it has 20-years to look back in the mirror at the trials, tribulations, and massive fuck up’s hopefully surfing can learn some lessons before it even gets started in Tokyo this summer.
Sample:
“The biggest issue snowboarding has always faced is that the IOC gave control of the sport to the International Ski Federation (FIS), which, understandably, led to major tensions. “Why should the Ski Federation come in and take over a sport they didn’t even really like, that actually they’ve been trying to put down?” said Terje Haakonsen in 1998, when he announced he was boycotting the Olympics. This skiing takeover has been at the root of most problems in snowboarding, including issues with the qualifying process, poor contest facilities, inexperienced judges and broadcasting rights. Surfing’s competitive brass took heed of that. The sport’s governing body, WSL, and the body recognized by the IOC, ISA, have forged a close relationship and managed to agree on the big issues regarding the qualification process, judging and event format. As long as that relationship lasts, the process should run far more smoothly than the hostile takeover that occurred with snowboarding.”
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Click to SURFLINE for Five Lessons Surfing Can Learn From Snowboarding: Our winter cousin’s had a 20-year head start in the Olympics, and made plenty of mistakes that we can learn from.
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