The Master Blasts The Board

Terje Haakonsen, 23, is the master blaster of half-pipe snowboarding. But is he an Olympian? Snowboarding, the cultural twin of skateboarding, is growing up fast and this year will be part of the Winter Games for the first time. But count Haakonsen out of Nagano. The iconoclastic world champion has likened the International Olympic Committee to the Mafia. And last week, as he announced his refusal to participate, he told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, "There is a lot about these Games that is not my cup of tea." He added, "The thought of an Olympic gold medal has never tempted me." His boycott is a blow to the legitimacy of Olympic snowboarding. Says Todd Richards, America's No. 1 boarder: "I'll feel cheated out of the best competition."

In December, Haakonsen told SPORTS ILLUSTRATED that "snowboarding is about fresh tracks and carving powder and being yourself and not being judged by others. It's not about nationalism and politics and money." Reto Gurtner, president of the International Snowboarding Federation in Laax, Switzerland, says he "can really understand" Haakonsen's decision: "The Olympics are like going to the army." Many riders suspect that the Olympics pursued them as a revenue builder, a way of attracting a younger audience. Another feeling among riders is that their sport is still evolving, with new moves being pioneered. The Olympics might freeze everything in place. And then there's the organizational feud. The Olympic Committee handed responsibility over snowboarding events in Nagano to the International Ski Federation, not to the snowboarders' own federation. The skiing organization, said Haakonsen, "did not want to have anything to do with us previously. But now that we have become so big, they are coming to take us." He has drawn his line in the snow.