Share

Snowboarding

9 Reasons Shaun White Divides Opinions

The Flying Tomato faces his critics as he prepares for a half pipe hat trick

There’s many a fan out there who think snowboarding shouldn’t even be in the Olympics, citing the fact it is run by the FIS, the international skiing federation, which has no real long-term interest in the future of snowboarding.

Terje Haakonsen famously boycotted the Olympics in 1998, and recently told Whitelines, “They gave FIS, a ski federation, control of snowboarding, totally for commercial reasons. We all know that. And today they act as if they invented snowboarding, invented slopestyle. There’s just no respect for the history and culture of snowboarding at all. We don’t need FIS or the IOC. We can handle snowboarding ourselves.”

White, on the other hand, as with all the other competitors, simply believes it was a chance to show snowboarding, and his talents, to the wider world and that the politics are irrelevant.

Share

Newsletter Terms & Conditions

Please enter your email so we can keep you updated with news, features and the latest offers. If you are not interested you can unsubscribe at any time. We will never sell your data and you'll only get messages from us and our partners whose products and services we think you'll enjoy.

Read our full Privacy Policy as well as Terms & Conditions.

production