1960-1970s: How it all began

In 1929, an American named Jack Burchett (M.J. Jack Burchett) tied his legs to a plywood board with reins and ropes and tried to ride on such a "snowboard" from the slope. His invention did not gain popularity, but thirty years later, people again decided to try to go down the mountain on a board. In the mid-1960s, several events took place in the United States at once, which became significant for the modern snowboarding industry.

Tom Sims with his first ski track, made in 1963

In 1963, the student high school from New Jersey named Tom Sims as a labor project made a ski board. After a vacation in California, Tom was obsessed with skateboarding and wanted to come up with something to ride in the winter. The skier was a pine board with rounded ends and a curved nose. To prevent the feet from slipping off the board, a piece of carpet was glued to it. On the sliding surface, Sims used aluminum, which he rubbed with regular wax.

In 1965, a certain Sherman Poppen was desperately trying to come up with some kind of fun to lure his little daughters out for a walk in freezing weather. What did he do? He twisted the kids' skis together and attached a string to the nose to control the board. Poppen's wife called her husband's invention "snurfer" ( snurfer from English. snow - "snow", surf - "surf"). The daughters were delighted with the snurfer, and all the neighbour's children wanted to get the same board. Six months later, Poppen patented his invention and began mass production. Despite the fact that over the next few years about a million snurfers were sold, most perceived them as purely child's play. Nevertheless, it was thanks to the snurfer that Jack Burton, the future founder of Burton Snowboards, had a desire to make boards for downhill skiing. He took part in snurfer competitions, since, having broken his collarbone, he could not participate in ski competitions.

At the same time, Dimitrije Milovich, a surf lover, inspired by roller coasters on trays, began to develop and produce his own boards together with his friends. Milovic's main idea was to achieve a surf-like experience using the technology used to make alpine skiing. So, in 1972, the Winterstick company appeared, which still exists and is known to lovers of skating for its swallow tail boards for riding in deep snow.

Winterstick dovetail boards, 1970s.

In 1977, Tom Sims and Jake Carpenter Burton began producing snowboards. Everyone went their own way: Sims, along with Chuck Barfoot (Chuck Barfoot) made boards from pine and aluminum, and Burton tried to improve the snurfers. It was he who came up with the idea to attach bindings to the board: since it was much easier for him to control the board, and at the next competitions he easily bypassed other snurfer fans. In the same year, Poppen stopped producing snurfers, and then, then unknown to anyone, Mike Olson, who was in high school, made his first snowboard in labor class. In 1984, he dropped out of college and founded Gnu, a snowboard industrial company.

First Burton snowboards, 1977-1981, 1983

Already in the late 1970s, snowboard production began to develop by leaps and bounds: Sims introduced the use of fiberglass, and Burton and Milovich - ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. Burton also closely followed the technologies used in the production of alpine skis and thought about how to apply them to the production of "snowboards". By the late 1980s, board technology and design had become more versatile, and the perfect bindings and boots were a new challenge.

The fathers of snowboarding: Tom Sims and Jack Burton

Jack Burton and Tom Sims, 1980s

Tom Sims is one of the pioneers of snowboarding, a legend who earned fame as a talented skateboarder, snowboarder, snowboard propagandist, founder of one of the first companies to make Sims Snowboards. Born in Los Angeles in 1950, Sims made his first snowboard when he was thirteen in high school. In the early 1970s, after moving to Santa Barbara, Sims opened a skate shop. In 1976, he became the world champion in skateboarding, and was also actively involved in the production of boards, but also did not forget about his skateboard.

In 1977, Bob Weber, who invented the monoski and registered the name "skier", turned to Sims and his co-worker Chuck Barfoot and invited them to make "snowboards" together. So, in 1978-1979, a ski board called Flying Yellow Banana appeared: a Sims wooden skateboard was placed on a large plastic board. Even without metal edges and bindings, Banana was a breakthrough in snowboarding at the time. She inspired Sims and Barfoot to start working on a prototype snowboard using fiberglass.

In the 1980s, following Barfoot's departure, Sims continued to work on various prototypes of boards and bindings, including metal piping, a toe and heel bracing system, and discs to adjust the angle of the bindings. Tom Sims has won first places in snowboarding competitions such as the US Open Snowboarding Championships and King of the Mountain, and in 1985 he starred as a stunt double for Roger Moore in the James Bond film "View to Kill", riding there on a snowboard. ... Sims began building a snowboarding team and was also one of the first to popularize halfpipe and freestyle in the 1980s. At the same time, former Sims rider Craig Kelly began riding for the Burton team, and a confrontation between the two pioneers of the snowboard industry began, which lasted more than one decade. Over the years, Tom Sims has developed freestyle boards, freeride boards, carbon boards and more, and has been actively involved in the life of the company and the snowboarding community. Tom Sims died of cardiac arrest in 2012.

Tom Sims with some of his boards

Another pillar of the snowboarding industry and culture is Jack Carpenter Burton and his company Burton Snowboards. Jack was born in 1954 in New York, and at the age of seven he first got to a ski resort. In 1968, he received a surfer as a gift from his parents, and this forever linked his life with skiing in the mountains. After graduating from New York University in 1977, Burton moved to Londonerry, Vermont, and founded Burton Snowboards. In the same year, he released the Burton Backhill, made from laminated maple. All boards at that time were made by hand. In 1979, Burton sold only three hundred boards and was forced to return to New York: he earned money for the company, working as a bartender and tennis coach. In 1980, Burton sold seven hundred boards, and the next year he moved to Manchester, Vermont. He made boards right at home.

In 1981, Burton competed in the first snowboarder competition at Ski Cooper in Landville, Colorado. At the Suicide Six in 1982, Burton took part with his team. This event later developed into the US Open Snowboarding Championships and was held at Stratton Mountain. Thanks to Burton's efforts, Stratton became the first ski resort to allow snowboarders to use ski lifts. In 1984, Burton designed and produced skating clothes, and the following year he moved to Austria and opened a European division of the company. Snowboarding gained popularity, the company grew, and more resorts began to allow snowboarders on their slopes. In 1989, Burton returned to Vermont, and in the 1990s, the pro-model of the legendary snowboarder and one of the pioneers of freeriding Craig Kelly came out, the rising star Terje Haakonsen joined the team, Burton opened an office in Japan, began to produce snowboard helmets under the RED brand. , Gravis shoes and Analog clothing. In the 2000s, he began manufacturing optics under the Anon brand, acquired Forum, Special Blend and Forth Square, as well as the Channel Island surf company. In 2011-2012, Burton successfully recovered from cancer and now continues to work actively: Burton snowboards and equipment are considered one of the best in the world, and the Burton team included and are the strongest riders on the planet. By the way, Burton recently released a "snurfer" as a tribute to the history of snowboarding: the famous Swedish rider Johan Olofsson rides it in the new Russian film "Pivot", which was released in 2015.

1980s: Competitions, films and magazines

Tom Sims

In the 1980s, snowboarding began to gain popularity: in 1981 in Ski Cooper, in Landville, Colorado, the first snowboarding competition was held, and in 1982 the Suicide Six competition took place, which then became the US Open. on snowboarding. At the same time, the first tricks began to appear: basically they were straight jumps with board grabs - "grabs" ( from English to grab - "to grab"). Competitions at that time were held in halfpipe and slalom: it was very vaguely reminiscent of what can be seen today.

Halfpipe (English half pipe - half pipe) - a ramp for winter sports, dug in the ground and covered with a dense layer of snow. Its length is usually about 80m, and the height of the walls is at least 3m.

In the 1980s, they began experimenting with skating on film: given the size and weight of the filming equipment, it was very difficult. The films of that time were not like the current ones and were more like cinema. A perfect example is the 1983 feature film titled Apocalypse snow: in it, on the slopes of the French Alps, a snowboarder hero fought against monoski villains. As funny as this movie may seem today, it was with him that the boom of snowboarding in Europe began.

The main role in the film is played by Régis Rolland, who is considered to be the “father” of European snowboarding. Regis was born in 1960 in Grenoble and in 1981 began working as a ski instructor in the French Alps. In 1982, thanks to the Winterstick team, he stepped onto the board, and a year later he starred in the now cult film Apocalypse snow... In 1985-1986, two more films were released with his participation, which were called Apocalypse Snow II and Apocalypse Snow III. In 1985, Regis founded the Apocalypse Surf snowboard company. In 1990, he sold it to the Americans, and it changed its name to Apocalypse Snowboard USA. The Frenchman worked for the company until 1992, and in 1993 he founded the company A Snowboards. Ten years later, Regis Roland founded another company, APO Snowboards. Although Regis Roland's career as a businessman was not very successful, he himself, films with his participation and his odski, undoubtedly, played a huge role in the development of European snowboarding.

Despite the growing popularity of snowboarding, board lovers have not been favored in ski resorts for a very long time. In 1985, only thirty-nine of the approximately 600 resorts in the United States allowed snowboarding. By the way, until now, there are several resorts in the States that are not allowed to snowboarders.

In 1985, the first snowboarding magazine called Absolute Radical was released - later the name was changed to International Snowboarding Magazine. In 1987, Transworld Snowboarding magazine appeared. He goes out and sets the fashion ever since.

Transworld Snowboarding magazine covers, 1987 and 1990.

Riding styles

Craig Kelly. Photo: © Bud Fawcett

Of course, the division into disciplines did not come to snowboarding right away. At first, the boards were used simply for descending from the mountain. But already in the 1980s, competitions began to be held in two disciplines that were very different from each other: slalom and halfpipe. The essence of the first was to descend to speed along a special track with gates placed on it, the essence of the second was in tricks. Snowboarding pioneers like Tom Sims have participated in both. With the use of new technologies in the production of boards, as well as with the development of the industry in general, snowboards began to appear, specially created for a particular style of riding. Today there are boards for carving, snowboarding, jibbing, etc.

Freestyle ( English freestyle - "free style") is the performance of various tricks. Tricks can be performed in halfpipe, big air, railings, pipes or other structures (jibbing). There is a slopestyle discipline: a rider chooses a downhill line in the park and performs tricks on jumps, boxes, railings and other obstacles of his choice. In this type of competition, not only the complexity of the tricks is taken into account, but also the style of their performance and the line of descent through the park. Halfpipe and slopestyle are both Olympic sports.

Freeride ( English freeride - "free ride") - skiing in the mountains on unprepared slopes. Often during the descent, riders perform tricks, jumping from roots and rock ledges, sliding over fallen trees and using other natural obstacles that are encountered along the descent. Freeride competitions are held in the format of a commercial tour, the final stage of which takes place every year in Verbier, Switzerland.

Carving ( freecarve from eng. to carve - "cut", "carve"; alpine snowboarding - eng. "boarding in the mountains") - riding on specially prepared tracks, in which the main attention is paid to the cleanliness of the turns. There are no jumps or tricks in this discipline. For carving, special boards and bindings are produced, reminiscent of ski, as well as tight clothing. Carving includes Parallel Slalom, Giant Slalom and Giant Slalom: the main task of the rider is to drive through a series of gates marked with poles. Competitions in giant slalom and parallel slalom are Olympic sports. Among snowboarders who are fond of freeriding and freestyle, carving is skeptical, believing that it is closer in spirit to alpine skiing than to snowboarding.

Bordercross ( boardercross, snowboard cross, boarder X from the English. to cross - "to cross") - a type of competition in which several participants (most often four) descend at speed along one specially prepared track, overcoming various obstacles (jumps, artificial irregularities, etc.). Runs are knockouts and collisions often occur during descent. Obviously, for the spectacularity of the boardercross was included in the program of the Winter Olympic Games.

1990s: Street and Jibbing

Denis Bonus. Photo: © Dasha Nosova

Competitions, films, magazines that appeared in the 1980s contributed to the further active development of snowboarding. In the early 1990s, the shape and construction of the snowboard was the same as it is today, and it was then that they came up with almost all the tricks that can be seen today. Snowparks began to appear - special parks in which one could train and do tricks. They usually consisted of jumps and halfpipe, but when the era of jibbing began, things were different in competitions and snowparks.

Jibbing is sliding on structures made of wood, metal, concrete - in general, not on snow. Now he is at the peak of popularity, but he already has a completely different style - a style that is as close as possible to skateboarding. Obviously, this is the most accessible side of snowboarding, because jibbing requires no mountains, no helicopter, no snowmobile, and you can get by with a minimum of snow. All you need is a shovel and a railing. That is why jibbing is associated with the concept of "street" ( from English street - "street") - skiing in the city (as opposed to skiing in the mountains).

Undoubtedly, the popularization of jibbing is the merit of J.P. Walker (JP Walker - the legendary American snowboarder born in 1976), but in fact they tried to jibbit back in 1991. Back then, many snowboarders looked at jibbers like lepers, especially because of their appearance: wide pants, short boards - it all looked wild. Railing was truly underground until the 1997 Simple Pleasures video featured J.P. Walker. In addition to the traditional freestyle (jumping, halfpipe), there were a lot of tricks taken from skateboarding - this started the era of modern jibbing. We can say that Forum rewrote the history of jibbing with its rider. After them, many tried to create a team like the famous Forum 8, which included JP Walker, Jeremy Jones, Joni Malmi, Wille Yli-Luoma, Bjorn Leines, Devun Walsh, Chris Dufficy and Peter Line.

Part of J.P. Walker in Simple Pleasures, 1997.

Since 1995, the world's largest extreme sports competition X-Games has begun in the United States. different time included rollerblading, skateboarding, mountain biking, BMX, motorcycle, etc. Since 1997, they began to hold the Winter X-Games, the program of which now includes eight types of snowboarding competitions, six ski and five snowmobile disciplines. Since 2002, the winter games have been held at the well-known ski resort Aspen, Colorado.

2000s: Olympic Games

Halfpipe competition in Sochi, 2014 Photo: © Kirill Umrikhin

By the late 1990s, snowboarding had established itself as a winter sport and made its debut at the Nagano Olympics in 1998. For the first time, a huge global audience watched a halfpipe competition, the second was won by Jean Simmen from Switzerland. Then strong tricks were considered maktvist (backflip 180), 720 and beautiful grabs. By the way, since 1998, the Olympic halfpipe has become almost twice as high (3.5 m versus 6.7 m), much wider (15 m versus 20 m) and longer (120 m versus 180 m).

Since 2002, the Olympics program has included competitions in parallel giant slalom, since 2006 - snowboard cross, and in 2014 for the first time there were competitions in parallel slalom and slopestyle. In 2002, at the Salt Lake City Olympics, Ross Powers took first place in the halfpipe, and then the era of Sean White began, who at this moment is the only two-time Olympic halfpipe champion, as well as a thirteen-time winter X-Games winner in slopestyle and superpipe disciplines and a two-time summer X-Games winner in skateboarding. In 2010, he won thanks to five tricks, three of which were with double spins, and in 2012, during the X-Games in Aspen, he scored 100 points out of 100 in one pass.

Sean White's passage to the 2012 X-Games, which brought him victory and 100 points out of 100 possible.

At the 2014 Olympic Games, the Russian national team won four medals in snowboarding: in snowboard cross, Nikolai Olyunin won a silver medal, Natalya Zavarzina won bronze in the parallel giant slalom for women, and Natalya's husband, the former, won gold in the parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom to the US citizen speaking for Russia, Vick Wilde. It is also noteworthy that the former Russian, and now a Swiss citizen, Yuri Podladchikov, ahead of Sean White, from whom everyone expected only victory, and two Japanese athletes became the gold medalist in the halfpipe competition.

Late 2000s - early 2010s

Shooting of The Art Of Flight, 2011. Photo: © Danny Zapalac

After the economic crisis of 2008, the MDP studio, which made very high quality snowboarding films, closed, Forum Snowboarding closed, and Burton disbanded its legendary team Un.Inc. Jibbing, which became much more technical, was gaining extraordinary popularity. It was a completely skateboarding style with a predominance of technique, not oversized handrails. Jumping developed strongly after the first landed 1620 degrees, and then after the first double-crust. When double cork became common, it was quickly replaced by triple cork. Most of the videos began to be filmed in cities, on railings, and not everyone can afford films about "real snowboarding" in the big mountains. However, the European studio Pirate Movie Production in 2013 released a new film, Distorted Reality. Let us remind you that since 2003 Pirates have been annually releasing new rolling tapes, including: Shoot Your Friends, Pirate Radio, Walk The Plank, Hooked, Bottom Line, Unique8. In 2008, Travis Rice's film That "s It, That" s All was released, in 2011, Quicksilver and Red Bull released The Art Of Flight, and in 2014 a film by Pirate TV was released. and Red Bull called Perceptions.

Snowboarding in Russia

Home-made, and later brought from abroad, boards in the USSR began to ride in the 1970s-1980s. For the first time, the general public saw snowboarding live in 1997 as part of the celebration of the 850th anniversary of Moscow, when demonstration performances of foreign riders took place on Red Square, accompanied by the musical accompaniment of the cult band Prodigy. Ballantines Urban High was the first event that gave a powerful impetus to the development of snowboarding in Russia. It was after him that many thought about the possibility of skiing in the city, and the next year the first festival “Nescafe. Clean energy". Then, until 2005, it was held annually in Krylatskoye, as well as at other venues in Moscow, Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Samara and Yekaterinburg. Since the mid-1990s, camps have begun on Elbrus, since 1997 - on Dombai, then - camps in Kirovsk and Krasnaya Polyana.

Among the first domestic riders are Andrey Lavrov (Shootout), Andrey Volchkov (Kirpich), Roman Dyrin (Acrobat), Maxim Belogurov (Chirka), Mikhail Kuzmenkov (Kalmar), Mikhail Navalikhin (Small), Maxim Balakhovsky (Balu), Alexander Moroz , Dmitry Fesenko (Tarakana), Svetlana Buzenkova, Larisa Udodova, Natalia Lapina and others. The first Russian magazines about snowboarding were: "Adrenaline", "Rider", "Snowboarding" and "Boards", which then went online. Also, since the mid-2000s, the Russian-language version of the Onboard magazine has been published.

In 2005, Maxim Balakhovsky founded the Helipro company, which organizes helicopter rides in different countries the world; photographs and videos taken during trips have repeatedly appeared on the pages of magazines, published as separate books, and also entered Russian snowboard films.

).

Trailer of the film "The Turn"

Not only has changed over time appearance boards, but also clothing. If in the 2000s it was fashionable to ride in wide pants and oversized T-shirts, then in the last few years many have been skating in tight pants or jeans and leather jackets, and the most courageous in leggings. The impact of the Internet must not be overlooked: thanks to social networks news spreads around the snowboarding world in a day, whether it be a triple cork, a brand closure or a new fashion. This motivates, and snowboarding is becoming more international: for example, Europeans, after watching a video from Russia, can contact someone and come to us for a couple of weeks to ride. Also, many amateurs make their videos, sometimes of excellent quality. Over the past few years, several Russian brands have emerged that produce their own snowboards.

So, snowboarding has come a giant way from fun, which was interesting for a dozen people, to the hobby of millions of people around the world and an Olympic sport (even if not everyone likes it). Of course, he came to Russia much later, after he gained some popularity in the USA and Europe, but in recent years a lot has been done to develop domestic snowboarding: they continue to make films, new talents appear, and many simply discover the charm of snowboarding. board not for the sake of records or filming, but just for fun.

Material prepared by:

Ksenia Po and Alexander Kotelkin

By date ▼ ▲

By name ▼ ▲

Most Popular ▼ ▲

By difficulty level ▼

The world of snowboarding is amazing and diverse. To touch it, visit the proposed snowboard site. Here are the actual useful articles, training materials, the necessary information about equipment. Find out about the most popular places for skiing - mountains and slopes, all kinds of competitions, follow the news and reviews, see photo galleries, videos of the best riders, as well as interesting films about snowboard.

http://glader.ru

Would you like to learn more about the world of snowboarding or learn the basics of snowboarding? Then the snowboard portal will definitely come in handy! On its pages you will find a detailed history of this sports direction and will be aware of important news. In the "School" section, you will learn what jibbing is, how to choose a snowboard, where to start riding, about injuries and the rules of behavior on the slope. Check out the best riders in the world, watch photos and videos of tricks, communicate on the forum.

http://www.snowbd.ru

Welcome to the extreme online snowboard magazine. The most extreme snow news and events in the snowboard industry and the life of riders are presented to your attention. Read blogs, new publications, articles, reviews, interviews. You will meet the best snowboarders in the world, and in the Lifestyle section you will learn about their fashion, technology and music. The site contains the best spots, videos of snowboarding are posted.

http://snow-fly.ru

Who would have thought that several kinds of extreme sports using the board would be born. One of these is snowboarding. The All About Boards website features the latest large-scale events, interesting and useful publications, and the best spots for snowboarding. In the "Market" category you will find new products and accessories that you can order online. On the portal you have the opportunity to communicate on the forum, watch photo albums dedicated to snowboarding.

http://onboard.ru

Is snowboarding a priority for you among other extreme sports? Lacking speed, adrenaline and a sense of freedom in winter? Then the site "Planet of Riders" will be interesting and useful for you, which contains a detailed history, the rules of this winter discipline, as well as all the information about the equipment. You will learn about such styles as freestyle, freeride, jibbing. On the portal you can learn the basics of teaching snowboarding: movement technique, basic exercises, turns, sliding.

http://planet-riders.ru

Interested in snowboarding? Would you like to know more about this fun and exciting winter sport? Then you are on the right web portal! By visiting it, you will learn how to choose a snowboard and accessories, about skiing on a snowboard itself and specially designed places. Published here detailed information about the board: designs, production, types and more. Read news on the site, a short tutorial, publications about sliding, jumping, spinning and different combinations.

http://www.snow-drift.ru

All of us in childhood gladly rolled down a steep hill. Today this hobby has grown into a separate kind of winter extreme sports, although now such amateurs move down the slopes on a special board for skiing. On this portal you will learn about the history of the origin and development of snowboarding, types, styles, terminology of a snowboarder. It also presents detailed information about disciplines in snowboarding, equipment, special boots, helmets and exercises.

http://www.snawboard.ru

For fans of active sports and recreation, an interactive portal "Snowboard-Wiki" has been specially created. Here you will find the latest events in the popular winter extreme, a wide variety of video tutorials and films that will be useful for beginners and professionals. Read articles about riding styles, outfit and equipment, rules and safety, study the dictionary, see exclusive photos. The Tutorials section provides descriptions of the basic tricks.

http://snowboarding-wiki.ru

On March 10 and 11, 2018, the 11th stage of the Snowboard World Cup in the discipline "snowboard cross" (board cross) will take place in Moscow. This is the most "racing" and contact version of the competition, where from four to six snowboarders compete simultaneously on the slope. He is also the most traumatic. About the specifics of the competition, about injuries on a snowboard and how to avoid them, "E-Vesti" found out from the coach who raised two Olympic champions.

About 120 strongest athletes from 16 countries will come to the Moscow stage of the 2018 Snowboard World Cup in Krylatskoye. The snowboard cross takes place on a special track, profiled with different shapes - bends, jumps, combs, shafts and other elements. Moreover, the Moscow stage of the 2018 World Cup will be held in the "sprint-cross" format - with a shorter and more gentle track, which makes special demands on the skill and technique of passing the figures (there will be 30 of them on the track).

The Snowboard World Cup is an international snowboarding competition held annually since 1994 by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The circle of his disciplines is divided into three categories - parallel, acrobatic, and snowboard cross. The first includes parallel slalom and giant slalom, where a couple of athletes temporarily descend from the hill, passing the set gates. Acrobatic includes big air, halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines, where athletes compete in performing acrobatic stunts. But in snowboard-cross - in the most "racing" version of competitions for speed - from four to six snowboarders compete at the same time.

Snowboard cross is an unpredictable discipline where everything can change at any moment. Although our team after the 2018 Winter Olympics in Korea lost two leaders - Nikolai Olyunin and Maria Vasiltsova, who were injured and are now recovering, but our honored masters, winners and prize-winners of international competitions, and young athletes have great chances to get to the big final.

The cultural and political magazine "E-Vesti" asked the head coach of the national team Artur Olegovich Zlobin to comment on the situation with the injuries of our athletes.

EV: Artur Olegovich, what is the reason for the injuries of Russian snowboarders at the Olympics in Pyeongchang?

Arthur O. Zlobin: Apparently, the Olympic track was not verified in terms of speeds, or during the construction there was a different weather and the "zeroing" of the cross went for more low speeds than in competitions. In Korea on snowboard crossreceivedtrauma16 people of different nations,because the guys have speedwasin some places 87 km / h is a lot for a cross-board.

EV: Is this injury rate higher than the norm for this type of competition?

Arthur O. Zlobin: If you look at the statistics, at the Olympics in Sochi, cross-board was also recognized as the most traumatic sport, but in Korea, unfortunately, it exceeded all expectations.

EV: What is being done to make the snowboard trails safer?

Arthur O. Zlobin: Unfortunately, everything here is tied to TV broadcasts, to live broadcasting. But now there is a lot of resonance from injuries received in Korea, so it is possible that some additions to the programs will be adopted at the FIS congress, when it will be possible to block the competition before rebuilding the track.

The post-workout adjustments that coaches recommend are not always possible during broadcast, because when the form has already been made - everything is smooth, clean, beautiful - it is not easy to take and rebuild the track, move several figures. Where Nikolai Olyunin was injured, at the entrance to the so-called "oblique ditch", the depth on the right was 7 meters! That is, he had to either slow down, or ... But we did not see any other medal besides gold, so Nikolai did this. If we returned the situation back, then, I think, he would have done the same again. The snowboard track was built in such a way that there was such a deep take from the springboard.

But athletes are not gladiators, and I would like them to leave the track unharmed. All the same, the entire prepared track should be conducted normally.

EV: By the way, if we talk about novice snowboarders, what advice can you give them in order not to risk their health?

Arthur O. Zlobin: I would not say that snowboarding as a sport is mega-traumatic. According to statistics, snowboard amateurs break down either on the first day, or when they start to "get impudent" on the track, acquiring certain skills. After all, snowboard cross does not go just like that, only prepared.

Injuries mainly occur during freeriding, when, somewhere in the forest, people stumble upon natural obstacles, trees. This kind of sport will surely be the most traumatic.

And, of course, the organizers and builders of the snowboard tracks must draw conclusions. Not so simple. You see, what a thing here ... Today, let's say, it will be 20 degrees below zero, and the board is sliding at a certain speed. And at the time of the competition it will be minus 5, the glide will improve significantly, and all these flights from figure to figure and all the zeroing that were in training already disappear, everything has to be decided on the fly, from scratch... This is, of course, the difficulty, you need to pay attention to this.

Snowboard is an Olympic sport, which consists in descending from snow-covered slopes and mountains on a special equipment - a snowboard. Initially, a winter sport, although some extreme sportsmen have mastered it even in summer, snowboarding on sandy slopes (sandboarding).

Since, often, snowboarding takes place on unprepared slopes and at high speeds, a variety of equipment is used to protect against injuries - helmets, protection of joints, arms, legs, back.

THE HISTORY OF SNOWBOARD

There are conflicting opinions about how snowboarding appeared ("snowboard"; a board that you can stand on to ride on snowy slopes). According to some sources, the first mention of a board cut from plywood dates back to 1929, when the Austrian Jack Burtschet attached it to the legs with horse reins.

History is silent about what happened next. But it is reliably known that in 1963 the first snowboard was made by Tom Sims, using a skateboard for this. Sims' contemporaries were skeptical about his idea, but Sims stubbornly improved their "invention" and soon became the manufacturer of Sims Snowboards. The first snowboards were quite primitive and did not have boot bindings. On the front side of the board, there was simply a rope attached to which, like the reins, the border could hold. The next generation of boards did not have this part anymore, but the keel remained at the back, making it easier to turn.

Modern snowboarding is completely different from its ancestors. First, a steel edging borrowed from alpine skis replaced the keel. Secondly, the very shape of the board has changed - it curved towards the center. This is what Mike Olson did. With its revamped form, snowboards have become popular with surfers and skateboarders.

According to other sources, something similar to the modern board appeared due to the illness of surfer Sherman Poppen, who missed the summer surfing season.

He invented a winter form of surfing, the so-called snurf, in which the front leg was inserted into the strap, and the back leg remained free and rested on a rubber pad. Poppen subsequently organized the serial production of snares. And only since 1970, when Dmitry Milovich and Don Moss begin to perform on boards with iron edging, snowboard acquires modern look... Subsequently, in Utah (USA), they open the Winter Stich Company. In 1975, the firm gains prominence for a large illustrated article in the News week magazine. In 1977, in Vermont (USA), Jack Burton (Carpenter) created the famous Burton-snowboards company, which is currently the world's leader in the production of snowboards and related paraphernalia.

First open snowboard competition were held in 1981 in Woodstock (Vermont, USA) thanks to the efforts of Pole Graves. Almost all snowboarders in the United States came to this competition, and since then the popularity of snowboarding has begun to grow. In 1983, the first snowboard company was established in Europe. In the same year, the Frenchman Regis Rolland starred in the film "Snow Apocalypse", becoming the first idol among European fans of snowboarding. The second film that brought worldwide fame to snowboarding was "Fire and Ice", in which Tom Sims rode on the sandy slopes. Since 1985, "Absolutely Radical" began to appear - the first magazine dedicated to snowboarding, later renamed "International Snowboard Magazine".

In 1985, Canada hosted a historic competition featuring American and European snowboarders. In the early 1990s, the International Snowboard Federation (ISF) was created. It includes professional associations from Europe, Asia and America. Now, under the auspices of this association, the annual world championships and the World Cup are held. In Ischdl (Austria) in 1993 the ISF hosted the first World Snowboarding Championships, which was widely advertised and covered by the world press and television.

In 1996, snowboard was recognized by the International Ski Federation, and after that a significant event in the history of snowboarding took place - the International Olympic Committee included snowboard in the program of the Winter Olympic Games as "one of the disciplines" of skiing. Halfpipe and slalom (men and women) were included in the Nagano-98 winter games, from where the Canadian Ross Rebagliati took the first Olympic gold. The program of future Olympiads may include new disciplines - parallel slalom and boardercross.

THE HISTORY OF SNOWBOARD IN RUSSIA

Much more modest. In the 70s, the first boards in our country were made at the VILS plant (All-Union Institute of Light Alloys). They called it - Monoski on which you need to stand sideways. In the late 80s, the famous sports commentator V. Maslachenko brought the first board to our country.

Then two skilled people - Aleksey Ostatnikgrom and Aleksey Melnikov - made a copy from this board and began the serial production of snowboards in their own firm "Gromel". Another brand of Russian snowboards "Double Black" - The firm produced boards of its own design, developed the design.

Despite the fact that in those years it was very difficult to get high-quality materials (polyethylene, for example, was purchased for a slide at the Fisher factory). They can be considered the founders of Russian snowboarding.

At first on snowboard we, oddly enough, were engaged only in slalom (the only discipline in snowboarding that resembles skiing). Beginning in 1992, more information on snowboarding in the West began to flow. We finally learned that in addition to slalom, there is freestyle (technical skiing, rich in jumps) and freeride (free skiing everywhere without restrictions), we began to navigate the fashion and style of snowboarding. The situation with equipment for all types of snowboards has gradually improved. A firm "BORDACADEMIA" appeared in Russia, producing snowboards and engaged in training.

Beginning in the mid-90s, the Russian snowboard association began to hold amateur and professional competitions in such types of skiing as half pipe, big air and slalom.

In 1996, the first Russian summer snowboard camp on Elbrus was opened. Since then, held every year!

On September 27, 1997, in the center of Moscow, on Manezhnaya Square, a grandiose snowboard show "BALLANTINE'S URBAN HIGH" took place, which brought together the entire elite of the world snowboard as well as the best Russian snowboarders.

For the second year (1998-99), Moscow hosts a festival of extreme music and sports "Clean Energy Nescafe". In 1998 it took place on Poklonnaya Hill, and the next year in Krylatskoye.

In January 1998, a winter snowboard camp was held on Dombai, which brought together the best Russian boarders and other people. Everyone cheerfully celebrated the 20th anniversary of Burton and decided to get together every year. In 1999, the winter snowboard camp in Dombai, despite the crisis and bad weather, was going through the country, only changed the name to "Non-Olympic Games" (in honor of the famous store).

In March 1998, the "EXTREME FEST'98" festival was organized by the Federation of Extreme Sports. And in conclusion, the snowboard championship in Kirovsk, organized by the Snowboard Federation and the O'Neill Firm.