A Quest for Snowboarding Winter Olympic Gold May Be Up in Smoke

Notorious snowboarding bad boy Danny Kass has always edged two lifestyles. One a respectable, two-time Olympic silver medalist getting high in the pipe. The other, a gnarly, fun-loving boarder recognized for getting high on the pipe. He has long straddled the line between corporate sponsor kingdom versus the sport’s hardcore roots.

 
As recently speculated in the press (ESPN.com) and supported by many snowboard experts, the 26-year-old Kass has landed in a New Zealand jail for marijuana possession. On Saturday, Aug. 1, after a day of honing tricks at a snowboard park on the wintry island, he and another U.S. Snowboard Team member, Louis Vito, were pulled over by the Kiwi police at a routine sobriety checkpoint.

The cops seized a notable amount of pot in their car and arrested both on possession.  They now await a hearing on Monday, Aug. 10 where they’ll learn their fate—incarceration and/or fines.

This drug cloud, so to speak, is now hovering over this Olympic sport once again.  The smoke was indeed clearing—ever since the Canadian Ross Regagliti, the Nagano 1998 Olympics gold medalist, tested positive for cannabis soon after competing in the inaugural half-pipe event.  In response, later that year, the International Olympic Committee banned the recreational drug, despite acknowledging that the drug has no performance-enhancing attributes (that’s their story and they’re sticking to it!).

During the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics, athletes were randomly tested for drugs, and the big story was that none of the three U.S. Olympic medalists—Ross Powers, Kass, or JJ Thomas tested positive—a big relief for the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Then, at the Torino Games in 2006, this Olympic sport launched itself into the American “mom and apple pie mainstream” thanks to Shaun White‘s surreal half-pipe runs that almost landed him on a Wheaties cereal box.  

Both Kass and Vito reek of grunge and are known as party animals on the pro circuit. Kass has taught the 21-year-old Vito (a protege of sorts) much about the sport, and apparently its fringe benefits.  Kass has smugly dodged frequent questions about his drug use, however his actions are more indicative of his true self.  For starters, check out his “Danny and the Dingo” videos on YouTube to peek into his partying lifestyle. Then visit his Grenade Gloves website to scope out snowboard gear featuring marijuana leaves as part of its design.  

With just six months before the Vancouver Olympics, ya gotta wonder what type of training program has been assigned to these “athletes” by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association.  Kass has previously stated, “Snowboarders don’t train as seriously as some athletes.  It makes your muscles too big for snowboarding.”

With this philosophy, a dubious track record, and given the USOC’s  and USSA’s anti-drug philosophy, his chances of making the U.S. Snowboarding Team for the Vancouver Olympics in such a subjectively graded sport may indeed burn out.