Hydrolife Canada February/March 2017

feature
At the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games,
Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati became
the first ever to win a gold medal in men’s
snowboarding. He was then disqualified for having
THC in his bloodstream, a decision that was soon
overturned because marijuana was not banned by
the International Olympic Committee. Nineteen years
later, the events remain clear in his mind. Rebagliati
spoke with Hydrolife to discuss the events that
changed his life, how they changed society’s views of
marijuana, and how it all remains relevant today.
ROSS’GOLD
HOW AN OLYMPIC
SCANDAL CHANGED
CANNABIS PERCEPTIONS
HYDROLIFE: Looking back at your win, then your
disqualification, then having your medal returned, does
it still amaze you how all of that went down?
ROSS: (Laughing) Yes, it was incredible. First of all, it was
a huge shock that it happened in the first place. It took me
forever to recover from having my dreams slip between my
fingers like that right at the end of my career. We prepared
for it for four years and as snowboarders, we had never
prepared for anything for four years before because all of our
races were every year, so that was a departure from what we
were used to. So, yeah, it made it extra dramatic but, at the
same time, very revealing about, you know, the support I got
from Canadians and from people around the world. Not only
for the athletic performance but for my cannabis views and
in spite of my cannabis use. So, I think a lot of people really
have a hard time wrapping their head around the whole
thing, but in general, you know, the majority decided at that
time 20 years ago that, ‘Ah, we’ll just forget about the weed
thing for now, it was a killer race,’ you know?
HL: Yeah.
R: But, that was definitely a tricky situation at the time. Even
afterwards, dealing with different pressures that I wasn’t
used to, like being recognized outside of the snowboard
world and just extra attention on me and pressure to succeed
and to be successful and just things that you think about
in your 20s that aren’t quite, you know, 100 per cent. As I
get older now and I look back on it, I see how I was putting
too much emphasis on some things that I thought were
important at the time, but now when I look back on it in
retrospect, it’s all easy, right?
HL: Do you ever wonder how things might have turned
out if the events in Nagano didn’t happen?
R: Yeah, from time to time I run a couple scenarios of that.
I don’t really dwell too much on shoulda, coulda, woulda
scenarios. But yeah, I didn’t get the average amount of
attention and my 15 minutes of fame has lasted for a lot
longer. There are a lot of things to be thankful for and I think
that the support that I got from Canada, and in general, is
basically the foundation of when I was sort of reborn then
and had to kind of relearn my life. Having that support was
the foundation of me being able to move forward.
60 grow. heal. live. enjoy.
myhydrolife.ca