I can’t believe how fast the time is ticking by. Already
there are less than a hundred days until the big Games and all of us athletes
are doing what we can to prepare. Those of us who haven’t been fully qualified
yet have a daunting time ahead because we will not know our fate until close to
the Games. Use snowboarding for example, Canada Snowboard will not name the
team until less than a month out from the first snowboard event.
“How does qualification work?” “What’s up with that?” These
are some questions my fellow athletes, our families, and I get asked on a daily
basis. Well this is how it works.
Although there is a complicated version that includes
different tiers of qualifying, I am going to explain the simple and more
comprehensive description. The IOC and FIS (Federation of International Skiing)
have opened 24 spots per county for snowboarding athletes and are to be shared
amongst 5 disciplines. These disciplines are slope style, halfpipe, boarder
cross, giant slalom, and parallel giant slalom. There is a limit of 14 spots per gender. Ideally
each discipline would like to send 4 men and 4 women for their event, but this
is not possible. This means that not only am I competing against other halfpipe
women and men for a spot, but also with the women and men from the other 4 disciplines.
To get Canada a quota spot, one needs to have a top 30
finish at a World Cup event, and be in the top 30 for women and 50 for men on
the accumulating World Cup standings list, along with having earned 100 FIS
points (which is an average of an athlete’s two best results within the last
year).
To use one of those quota spots, Canada will take your 3
best finishes at the 4 qualifying World Cup events, New Zealand, Finland,
Unites States, and Canada. All disciplines are compared on a points scale to
see who are the most successful. The top 24 athletes will make up the Olympic
Snowboard Team.
Personally, I have already qualified Canada a quota spot for
snowboard halfpipe and so have four other riders, three other women and one
other man. However, Canada Snowboard can decide who uses those spots according
to the criteria they have set up, and I have explained in the previous
paragraph. It is possible that someone will use one of those spots personally
without qualifying Canada a quota spot. We still have three more contests to
ride in, Ruka Finland, Copper Colorado, and Stoneham Quebec. As of now my coach
has calculated that I am in 7th place to use one of those spots, but
nothing is confirmed or certain until January 19th 2014, which will
be the end of the qualification period.
A lot of people ask me why it is like this. I am not 100%
sure, but I believe that it is to keep the athletes working and focused right
up until the Games…so no one gets to comfortable and complacent, which has happened
in the past. But, it is a lot of stress on the athletes and their supporting
families and friends. I understand Canada Snowboard’s concern, but I don’t completely
agree with the process, I think there is a middle ground available.
Thus, it leaves other athletes and me in a battle for a quota
spot on the Olympic Snowboard Team. I would like to feel that I will know more
after the Copper World Cup, but it’s snowboarding and anything can happen in
the next 80 days.
