How snowboarding became a marquee event at the Winter Olympics – but lost some of its cool factor in the process
- Written by Holly Thorpe, Professor in Sociology of Sport and Physical Culture, University of Waikato
GettyImagesThe mass appeal of creative, youth-oriented events such as snowboarding and freestyle skiing at the Winter Olympics is a virtual case study of how the once radical can go mainstream.
And while audiences have come to love these relatively new sports, the story of snowboarding’s inclusion in the Olympics also reveals the unintended...
