Ross Rebagliati, 38, who won the first-ever gold medal in Olympic snowboarding at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, was selected last week to carry the Olympic Torch in Osoyoos in January. Photo submitted - Click on photo for larger image
OSOYOOS TIMES-November 11, 2009
By Paul Everest – Osoyoos Times
The winner of the first-ever Olympic gold medal for snowboarding will be carrying the Olympic Torch in Osoyoos in January.
Ross Rebagliati, who captured gold at the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998— and became the subject of controversy after testing positive for marijuana following his gold-medal finish— said he received the news last week that he’ll be a torchbearer on one leg of the torch’s cross-Canada journey when it passes through Osoyoos on January 24 and 25.
The 38-year-old Kelowna resident said he applied several weeks ago to participate in the relay and even received a message from Canadian television personality Rick Mercer asking if he had been selected.
Rebagliati said when he told Mercer he hadn’t heard anything from Olympic organizers about whether or not he’d be involved in the relay, Mercer began a campaign on Twitter, a popular web-based social networking site, asking why the snowboarding star hadn’t been named as a torchbearer.
The comment was picked up by the national media and within 24 hours, Rebagliati said, the Canadian Olympic Committee called to tell him he’d be one of 12,000 Canadians carrying the flame.
Isabelle Hodge, a spokeswoman for the committee, said Mercer had nothing to do with Rebagliati’s selection.
She said over the past few weeks, the committee was given 233 relay slots to fill and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games wanted 33 of those slots to be given to Canadian Olympic medalists or “iconic” Canadian Olympians.
Rebagliati fell into that category, Hodge said.
“Either way, I’m very excited,” Rebagliati said.
Carrying the torch through Osoyoos is a “good fit,” he added, since his family is from the South Okanagan.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Rebagliati said. “The further south you go, the more community feel (there is).
“I’m excited about it being in the Okanagan.”
He said he used to spend half his year in Naramata and the other half in Vancouver and has fond memories of water skiing and “catching scorpions” in the Osoyoos area.
Although he plans on bringing his gold medal with him when he carries the torch here, Rebagliati said he has no intention of campaigning along the way.
He announced last month that he’ll run for the federal Liberals in the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding in the next election.
Rebagliati said he still snowboards regularly and has a book on the history of the sport entitled Off the Chain coming out on Nov. 15.
His hope is that his appearance in Osoyoos with the Olympic Torch will “bring the kids out and create some positive interest in sports and life in general.”
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