Olympic Fishing at the X Games
Jan. 25, 2007— -- Remember the good old days, when the Winter X Games was the antithesis of the Winter Olympics? Times have changed. The X's have been systematically looted over the past three O's, and one discipline after another has either fallen or ascended—it depends on who you ask. In 1998, snowboard pipe made its Winter Olympic debut. By 2006, boardercross had joined the fray. And just a few weeks ago, it was announced that skiercross will debut in Vancouver, 2010. It's practically inevitable that the pilfering will continue, so the obvious question is: what's next? The less obvious question is: are all these Xs going O a good thing or not?
Until the Olympics goes moto, the frontrunners will be ski pipe (because there's already a pipe venue at the Games) and snowboard slopestyle (because the kids love them some snowboarding). Five-time X Games gold medalist Tanner Hall has an opinion: "Skiing's the sh*t." But Tanner's been around long enough to know it not that simple. "[Pipe getting in] is up to a bunch of 50-year-old people who don't really enjoy what we do. I can't control what happens, but I'll tell you this: if skiing halfpipe was let in, we'd be the dominant sport at the Olympics."
Hall is hoping for the discipline to make the cut for 2010. To that end, skiing's governing body, International Ski Federation (FIS), has been busy sanctioning ski pipe events in the U.S. and Europe, as well as holding a World Championship last year. But the International Olympic Committee's inclusion process is glacial at best and FIS has made it clear that no one should be holding their breath until Vancouver. But there were similar rumblings with snowboard halfpipe before the event was fast-tracked for 1998. The enormous success of the 2002 Olympic halfpipe led to a similar fast track for boardercross last year. "It would make sense," says Olympic boardercross champion Seth Wescott about ski pipe. "I was surprised to see it wasn't added along with skiercross. I assume there's still a possibility."
