When snowboarders first hit the slopes at American ski resorts, some ski areas banned them outright. Gradually, as the sport gained more followers, snowboarders and skiers learned to share the slopes. Interest in the sport spread around the world and snowboarding debuted as an Olympic sport in Nagano, Japan, in 1998.
Early Competition
Snowboarders competed in the first U.S. Championship in 1982 and the first World Championship in 1994. The International Snowboarding Federation formed in 1989 to promote snowboarding and host competitions. The International Federation du Ski, or FIS, added snowboarding to its list of competitions in 1994. When the International Olympic Committee added snowboarding to the Olympic roster in 1998, it recognized FIS as the governing body of the sport. The ISF gradually lost sponsorship and control of the sport and dissolved in 2002.
Events
Snowboarders competed in the halfpipe and giant slalom with both men's and women's competitions at the Nagano Olympics. Salt Lake City in 2002 added parallel giant slalom. Snowboard cross debuted in Turin, Italy, in 2006. This steeplechase on snowboards featured four riders racing down a course riddled with jumps, bumps and turns.
Medals
Ross Rebagliati of Canada and Gian Simmen of Switzerland were the first men's Olympic gold medalists in 1998, while Karine Ruby of France and Nicola Thost of Germany took the first women's golds. In 2002, American Kris Klug took the bronze medal in the parallel slalom and became the first organ transplant patient to receive an Olympic medal. As of 2010, the United States had 19 Olympic snowboarding medals, Switzerland had nine, France had seven and Canada had five.
Equipment
Competitors in snowboard cross and halfpipe must wear helmets. They are optional for slalom, though most competitors wear them. Competitors in parallel giant slalom and snowboard cross wear hard boots while halfpipe snowboarders wear softer, flexible boots. Competitors use special boards designed for each event, with different combinations of flexibility and speed.
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