Giant Slalom, Men

The first run was led by Canadian Jasey-Jay Anderson with a time of 59.31. Eight boarders bettered one minute, with Anderson’s teammate, Ross Rebagliati, in eighth at 59.87. Tied for second were Thomas Prugger (ITA) and Chris Klug (USA). The second run was marred by bad weather, with light snow and fog coming in, which caused the competition to be re-started for this run. When it was re-started Switzerland’s Ueli Kestenholz went off sixth and posted the fastest run of the round. Two boarders later, Rebagliati posted what would be the second fastest run in the second round, and moved into first place overall. He waited out the next seven boarders, and when Anderson struggled into 22nd place on the run, Rebagliati had the gold medal, with Prugger in second and Kestenholz third.

Or so it seemed. Three days later it was announced that Rebagliati would be stripped of his gold medal because he had tested positive for marijuana. This was immediately appealed by the Canadian Olympic Committee, and sent for a decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The ruling came down in Rebagliati’s favor, based on the fact that marijuana was considered a restricted substance, rather than a prohibited substance. The FIS explained that they had requested marijuana testing only for “fear related events” and not snowboarding. This was important, because snowboarders had somewhat of an alternative lifestyle, often with lots of partying, and marijuana was frequently present at the parties. Rebagliati explained that he had not recently been using, but had attended several parties at which there was a lot of marijuana use and he thought his positive was due to second-hand smoke. After the CAS ruling, Rebagliati was allowed to keep his gold medal.

Finishing in seventh place overall was Austrian Martin Freinademetz, who later had his Olympic Acceditation revoked. During a party at the Shiga Kogen Prince Hotel, he became quite drunk, and damaged a $4,000 switchboard. He offered to pay for the damage but the IOC was not amused.