047: Spencer O’Brien/A Snowboarder At The Olympics
If you only have five minutes…
Listen to this section - Spencer on whether boycotting was ever an option.
Show Notes
- Technical difficulties
- Rehabbing an ACL injury
- Being used to being injured
- Riding through the pain barrier.
- ‘I know so many people who have competed at the Olympics without an ACL’.
- Learning to be matter-of-fact about the injury process.
- Summer plans.
- Learning to sail.
- Growing up on Vancouver Island
- Riding Courtenay as a kid – and travelling to local events.
- Spencer’s weekend routine as a kid.
- First pipe contest – acid-dropping to flat.
- Sporty kid – and deciding to choose snowboarding.
- Snowboarding as an O’Brien family activity
- When slopestyle flipped the switch.
- First sponsorship through Roberta Rodger
- Spencer’s competitive streak
- Stalking the forums and ‘geeking out on snowboarding’.
- Connecting with the wider Canadian scene.
- The importance of Whistler
- The jump to pro events.
- Fanning out with Janna Meyen
- The camaraderie of women’s snowboarding.
- Anna’s cab double 10.
- Spencer’s open letter.
- Importance of the women’s big air for representing snowboarding in the right way.
- How Spencer sees the Olympics now.
- “I worry it’ll happen again”.
- How snowboarding’s relationship with FIS is changing.
- The Dream Tour idea
- 2012 World Champs in Oslo
- SLS judging system
- The issues in competitive snowboarding epitomised by the women’s Olympic slope event.
- Craig McMorris’s CBC coverage
- How FIS events work.
- ‘The level of communication was shocking.’
- Why not boycott?
- X Games controversy.
- Gigi’s Facebook post on the women’s slope.
- Margaret River contest cancelled.
- What Spencer would change.
- The reaction from the younger competitors.
- Ed Leigh’s Transworld story on the Olympic debacle.
- ‘Run it or cancel’.
- The Terje argument – ‘what do you expect?’
- Will Spencer go to the Olympics again?
- Dealing with rheumatoid arthritis
- Early symptoms – bursitis in shoulder, atrophying muscles, Baker cyst, capsulitis
- The daily ritual of dealing with chronic pain.
- Throwing anaemia into the mix.
- Finding out the meds to deal with it.
- ‘Do I need to broadcast everything?’
- Representing Canada’s First Nations heritage on at the global stage.
- Subvertng the stereotypes.
- What’s next for Spencer and this generation of women snowboarders?
People Mentioned
- Jon Weaver
- Sani Alibabic
- Darcy Sharp
- Cassie Sharp
- Brian Savard
- Megan O’Brien
- Roberta Rodger
- Leanne Pelosi
- Sean Kearns
- Jeff Martino
- Natasza Zurek
- Hana Beaman
- Janna Meyen
- Anna Gasser
- Stale Sandbech
- Craig McMorris
- Roberto Moresi
- Chris ‘Gunny’ Gunerson
- Torah Bright
- Gigi Scheidl
- Roman Arnold
- Terje Haakonsen
- Sarah Lewis
- Silje Norendal
- Enni Rukajärvi
Places Mentioned
- Bali
- Biarritz
- Vancouver Island
- Alert Bay
- Courtenay
- Mount Seymour
- Vancouver
- Grouse Mountain
- Whistler
- Pyeongchang
- Laax
- Oslo
- Texas
- AK
COMPANIES/BRANDS/ORGANISATIONS MENTIONED
- Oslo World Snowboard Championships
- Chorus
- Velvet
- Burton Snowboards
- Transworld Snowboarding
- Vans Triple Crown
- FIS
- Air & Style
- Laax Open
- FIS Snowboard
- X Games
- Dew Tour
- Mount Baker Banked Slalom