The International Olympic Committee, or IOC for short, has been at the root of much controversy since it chose snowboarding to be a part of the 1998 Olympic Games in 1994. Many in the sport did not seek inclusion in the Olympics; in many riders’ opinion, the Olympics sought them as a potential revenue-builder for the declining Winter Games. Snowboarding’s sanctioning body, leading up to the Inaugural Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan was the ISF (International Snowboarding Federation). The ISF had been long established and respected among the snowboard community as an organization whose aim was to progress the sport of snowboarding through a competitive nature right down from the grassroots programs, all the way up to the ISF World Tour which provided the most elite snowboard contests of the time. The ISF was created following the collapse of the National Association of Professional Snowboarders in 1990. Five nations and 120 riders established the Federation with the goal of keeping the officiating by riders for riders. They sought to bring the world’s best competitors together to test their skills in an environment which embraced competiveness, but still stressed the idea of having fun. The ISF eventually attracted riders of varying ages and abilities which allowed one time rising stars such as Terje Håkonsen, Daniel Franck, and Danny Kass to fine-tune their skills at an early age on their way to joining the professional ranks. The ISF set the standard for snowboarding competition, which largely in part contributed to the development of snowboarding as Olympic sport in the 1998 Winter Olympics.
Snowboarding first made the Olympic newswire at the Lillihammer, Norway Olympics, where it was hoped that it would be performed as a “cultural exhibition” by the host country Norway. However, before the contest was set to take place, FIS (Also known as the Fédération Internationale de Ski; they at the time governed all snow sliding sports except biathlon) got wind of the performance and forced its cancellation. Many in the snowboard industry were upset, especially as it was rumored that Norwegian, Terje Håkonsen had been a strong force behind organizing the demonstration contest itself. It was not until five months later that in June of 2004, at their national congress in Rio de Janeiro the FIS voted to include snowboarding as a discipline in their jurisdiction. They planned several events in 1994 and a full-fledged World Cup Tour in 1995. The snowboard industry was very wary of this bureaucratic giant who they feel were only in it for the potential revenue they saw from exploiting the sport. At the time, FIS had been around for seventy years and had been governed by directors who, snowboarders felt were out of touch with the touch with nature of our sport, as well as with the progressive and anti-establishment culture of the sport of snowboarding. Many felt that this kind of organization would be bad for the sport, especially the ISF. One month later, in July of 1994, ISF President Ted Martin wrote a letter to the IOC asking them to recognize the ISF as governing body of international snowboarding. In a three sentence reply, the ISF is told to talk to FIS about getting ISF athletes in the Olympics because “FIS governs that discipline”.
Undeterred by the IOC’s unofficial ruling of FIS to be the governing body for snowboarding the ISF establishes its own set of standards for snowboarding in the 1998 Olympic Games. However, once submitted to the IOC for approval they are turned away with the response that “The FIS has already been granted the rights to qualify and govern the snowboarders as Olympic discipline.” Obviously the snowboarders objected, not only because they had been left out of the entire Olympic process, but also because they believed that since the FIS was ‘ski specific’ it didn’t have rules to properly govern snowboarding as a discipline. Other’s believed the FIS to be non-representative of the sport of snowboarding. Because of this, many of snowboarding’s elite to this date have boycotted the Olympics.
One of the most famous snowboarders to boycott an Olympic Games was Terje Håkonsen. Håkonsen is widely considered one of the most influential snowboarders of all time and was one of the sport’s early icons. When snowboarding halfpipe was introduced as an Olympic event in the 1998 Winter Olympics, Håkonsen was one of the first to take a stand and say that something wasn’t right about the process that was taking place. He and many other snowboarders were disgruntled with the IOC and the way it chose to manage snowboarding becoming an Olympic sport. Terje was particularly displeased with the fact that the IOC selected FIS to handle the qualification, instead of the snowboarders’ own federation, the ISF. Terje recently explained in an interview in Snowboarder Magazine;
“The only thing snowboarding itself needs to be saved from is having a ski federation running it for Olympic qualification and the event at the Olympics. That is really weird. You don’t see other sports being run by someone else. Guys that really hated us from the start are making big bucks off of snowboarding. How weak is that? Biathletes aren’t run by FIS. Those guys who cross-country ski and shoot; they hate FIS, so they formed their own organization. Snowboarders are weak! Like sheep! It’s like having someone showing them a pot of gold and everyone is running for it. Not everyone is in a situation to where they can do much, but many people are. Every time someone goes to a FIS contest, they support a ski contest. Snowboarders need to hold the sanctioned events for the IOC to acknowledge, but the FIS and IOC have long-term relationships. They do a lot of give-give, buddy-buddy work with one another. It’s going to be tough. New rumors are that the IOC is trying to have a Youth Olympics. They are so desperate to get into action sports and more TV viewers”.
Since it’s instatement into the Olympics, FIS has continued to maintain its control over snowboarding. Essentially, giving credence to the position that snowboarding is a discipline of skiing, and not its own individual sport. Although the ISF continued to represent snowboarding on an international level after losing its battle with FIS, it began to lose power, sponsors and finances to the FIS, and ceased operations on June 22, 2002.
Craig Moore Feb 10, 2010
Craig Moore Feb 10, 2010
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