There were many naysayers going into the Sochi Olympics. On the mainstream side you had people like Bob Costas claiming the sport was better suited to an episode of jackass.

On the core side you had the legend that is Terje Haakonsen railing against everything Olympic related.

And in the middle there were ordinary snowboarders worrying that somehow the sport would be damaged by over-exposure to the mainstream.

That the riders might have to act differently somehow. That the event wouldn’t show “real” snowboarding. In the event, we needn’t have worried.

The softness of the halfpipe aside, the Russians did a fantastic job of organising a top-level snowboarding comp and the riders responded by producing the best display of competitive slopestyle riding the world has ever seen.

Not only that but the judges appeared to reward what most people would consider stylish riding, and while in the men’s I personally think Stale (who got silver in the end) was robbed, there’s no denying that the laid-back, long-haired Sage Kotsenburg makes a great mainstream spokesman for the sport.

Jamie Anderson meanwhile is the best champion women’s slopestyle riding could hope to have. And even in the halfpipe seeing new faces like Kaitlyn Farrington and Ayumu Hirano with medals round their necks was refreshing.

Best of all though, was the fact that he and all the other riders acted the same way they always do – like they were having fun.

And (with the exception of one spectacular killjoy from the Guardian) the wider world loved it. Snowboarding was one of the smash hits of the games with shredders and the general public alike. Which can only be a good thing.