Till the snowboard was discovered it passed a few years, but it is still rather new sport discipline, especially when we take into consideration history of this discipline in the Olympics. Snowboarding made its Olympic debut in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan with a total of four competitions divided into two categories: men's & women's halfpipe and men's & women's giant slalom. Two types of competition were originally chosen to be part of the Olympic Games reflecting two very different styles of snowboarding. The halfpipe competition represents freestyle snowboarding, and the giant slalom represents alpine snowboarding. Freestyle snowboarding is practiced by the overwhelming majority of snowboarders, while alpine snowboarding is a dedicated racing and carving discipline with its own specialized technique and equipment. For the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, the giant slalom was replaced with the parallel giant slalom, and the halfpipe competition incorporated a larger sized halfpipe, known as a superpipe. A third discipline, Snowboard Cross, was added for the Torino Games. Four riders at a time race down the course passing through gates, pumping over rollers and launching off of jumps. Whoever crosses the finish line first will take home Gold.

Pre-Olympic Controversy

Once it was decided that snowboarding would be included in the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made the very controversial decision to hand over jurisdiction of snowboarding to the FIS -- the Federation Internationale de Ski. In doing so, the IOC snubbed the International Snowboarding Federation (ISF), an organization by and for riders that had been sanctioning snowboarding competitions -- including the hugely popular US Open -- since the early 90's. Many in the snowboarding community were offended by the IOC's decision. Snowboarders felt that their sport deserved its own governing body comprised of snowboarders, not skiers. Adding to the heat, Norway's Terje Haakonsen (widely considered the world's best snowboarder) declared that he would not attend the Olympic games in 1998, nor would he ever attend them in the future. Today, the FIS is snowboarding's primary governing body. Tensions are easing, and many of the world's top snowboarders will be in attendance for 2008.

Controversy During the 1998 Games

The very first Olympic snowboarding gold medal went to Canadian Ross Rebagliati. Three days after climbing to the top of the Olympic podium and snowboarding history books, Rebagliati tested positive for marijuana and his gold medal was stripped away by the IOC. But wait a long-inhaled minute, marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug. If anything, it seems the drug would impair performance, a fact which further solidified Rebagliati's win in the minds of his fans. The decision to pull his medal went to an appeals court. Rebagliati's supporters argued that he was the victim of second-hand smoke at a going-away party in Canada, and that the trace amounts of marijuana in his system would not have affected the outcome of the race. In the end, the Court of Arbitration in Sport concluded that the original decision had been based on an International Ski Federation (FIS) drug policy, but under the IOC marijuana was considered a restricted substance, not a banned one. Rebagliati got to keep his medal and went home a cult hero.

It's a Sweep! Team USA Dominates Halfpipe in Salt Lake City

2002 proved to be an impressive year for the US Snowboard Team. Ross Powers, Danny Kass and JJ Thomas put their home-pipe advantage to good use and ran away with a sweep. The feat made Olympic history as only the second time the US swept an Olympic Winter event - the first was men's figure skating in 1956. Moving a couple of steps up the podium, Ross Powers used his trademark amplitude and powerful riding to claim his first Olympic Gold medal - he finished with Bronze in Nagano. The youngster Danny Kass, best known for his skate-like style and smooth spins, was able to wow the crowd and the judges to take home Silver. Rounding out the podium was JJ Thomas with his clean, calculated runs. The fourth American on the team, Tommy Czeschin, earned an impressive sixth place. Not to be outdone by the boys, Kelly Clark brought home the Gold for women's halfpipe.

A Legend Returns As Snowboard Cross Makes Its Olympic Debut

Snowboard Cross will make its Olympic debut in Torino in 2006 and snowboarding legend Shaun Palmer has his sights set on Gold. After dominating halfpipe in his early years, Palmer focused his skills on Snowboard Cross (aka boardercross) taking home numerous Gold medals in the X Games. Palmer's success carried over into other sports such as mountain biking, skier-x and motocross. He also owns a successful snowboard company, Palmer Snowboards. Until recently, Shaun had been out of the boardercross scene. He hadn't competed in several years and he has had a few personal issues and problems to overcome. Now Palmer is focused and ready to take on the world. The man who basically invented the sport is looking for another Gold - this time in the Olympics. Never count out The Palm.