Snowboarding trio delivers first U.S. medal sweep in 46 years

By Liz Clarke

The Washington Post

PARK CITY, Utah – A new definition of what’s cool about the Winter Olympics was created on a snow-covered Utah mountain slope Monday by a trio of America youngsters, who swept the gold, silver and bronze medals in the men’s halfpipe competition at the 2002 Winter Games.

Through their gravity-defying acrobatics, the U.S. snowboarding team gave the United States its first Winter Games medal sweep in 46 years, doubled the U.S. medal total – from three to six – and vaulted their country nearly halfway toward its all-time Winter Games medal total (13) on just Day 4 of these Games.

Afterward, the three described their feat in typical snowboard-ese.

Ross Powers – at 23 a grizzled veteran of Olympic snowboarding – won the gold medal, improving on the bronze he took at Nagano in 1998, when snowboarding made its Olympic debut.

“To have the guys up here is just awesome!” Powers said, flanked by silver medalist Danny Kass and bronze medal winner J.J. Thomas. “I’m not dissing on any other countries, but to have the three of us do well today where it really matters is huge for all of us.”

Kass, 19, of Hamburg, N.J., declared his achievement “downright radical.”

Thomas, of Golden, Colo., who edged Italy’s Giacomo Krattner by one-tenth of a point to clinch bronze, said, “Today is probably one of the funnest days of my life.” He is all of 20.

For the uninitiated, halfpipe is the wildly inventive discipline of snowboarding – a uniquely American sport that was granted Olympic status four years ago in an effort by the International Olympic Committee to revitalize interest in the Games among the young audience that’s so coveted by TV broadcasters and advertisers.

Monday’s medals sweep – the first by the United States in Winter Games competition since the 1956 men’s figure skating competition in Cortina, Italy – is bound to accelerate the popularity of one of the country’s fastest-growing sports.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day at Park City Mountain Resort, and the capacity crowd of 16,500 included a striking number of teen-agers and twentysomethings. Chants of “USA! USA!” drowned out the blaring, heavy-metal soundtrack that had accompanied the competition as soon as the U.S. sweep was assured.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” said Kelly Clark, 18, who won the women’s halfpipe gold medal Sunday. Clark was among the wild, partisan throng on hand to cheer the American men on.

Snowboarding, invented in the mid-1960s, is like surfboarding on snow. The “halfpipe” course resembles a trench, with curved walls. The riders race down the mountain on their boards and into the trench, swooping up – and over – its walls to perform mind-boggling flips, spins and stunts.

Halfpipe is a celebration of creativity and improvisation. Daring has a lot to do with it, too.

But in Olympic competition, this renegade sport is judged by rules that are quite rigid and formal. Five judges critique each run on the rotations (spins), the amplitude (height) and overall impression (“wow factor”).

Among hard-core snowboarders, however, the highest praise for a trick is to simply call it “sick.” It’s a superlative, reserved for a move that blows the mind.

Monday, 34 riders attempted qualifying runs. The best 12 advanced to the finals. All four Americans reached the finals.

Safety equipment is optional. Some wore helmets; others knit caps. Finland’s Heikki Sorsa wore neither, lest it wreck his extreme “mohawk” hairdo, which warranted bonus points for amplitude.

Each man got two runs, with the lesser score tossed out. The format encouraged wild risk-taking, and nearly half the runs ended in falls.

Powers, of South Londonderry, Vt., flew 15 feet into the air on the first move of his run in the finals, and performed tricks such as the “mute grab” and “stalefish” in scoring 46.1 points.

Kass has a move of his own invention, the “Kasserole spin” – two upside-down twists while grabbing the board – which earned 42.5 points and second place, which didn’t seem to bother Kass too much.

“I’m going to be on the Count Chocula box!” Kass yelled. “Count Chocula!”

Thomas executed a 2 1/2-revolution spin in securing the bronze.

“I just had fun on that second run,” he said. “I watched these guys do it and I just followed up. It’s not about me. It’s about Ross. Ross is the man.”

But at the end of the day, it was about snowboarding as much as the snowboarders.

“I’m sure after this, the public will see how far snowboarding has come,” Thomas said. “They’ll see the time we had today. And they’ll see this is one of the funnest sports in the world.”