And how has it affected your half pipe focus?
Having this type of journey with the boardercross and slopestyle is bringing so much more joy to my snowboarding. I’m more excited to be on snow than I ever have been before. I’m off to New Zealand and Australia now for the summer and I’m hopefully going to have some really productive training but I’m definitely creating a better connection between me and my snowboard. I feel the best I’ve ever felt on my snowboard and that’s really exciting to me.
Was it hard to motivate yourself after having such a good Olympics?
I heard a stat after the last Olympics that you’re 315 times more likely to win the lottery than you are an Olympic gold medal. I went into Turin 2006 with a great run and I could have been on the podium but it didn’t quite work out but that’s the nature of competitive sports and in Vancouver 2010 it almost didn’t work out as I had concussion and I didn’t know if I’d be riding and so going into these game, yes I want to do the best I can in the halfpipe, to be the best I can be, that hasn’t changed but I’m taking on a slightly different journey and the fact that I’m excited about that and that it’s making me feel like a ten year old kid on my snowboard again is a really good thing.
We’re video skyping and it’s nice to see that you do seem really happy. The last time we spoke your best friend Sarah Burke had just died and it was obviously a really hard time. Is that connected to you wanting to try new things like the boardercross?
That time and losing such a dear close friend doing what I do was hard. I think part of it is that I am so blessed with the life I’m given, snowboarding has given me such an incredible life and I want to give back to the sport that has given so much to me and that was very much what Sarah did. So this journey is exciting for me and later on after this Olympic journey is over I’ll find a way to give back to snowboarding in an even greater way.
And how’s the slopestyle training going?
For slopestyle, my home resort of Perisher, Australia they’re just willing to do whatever they can to help me out. They’re going to have some jumps built and I’m going to invite some girls and guys to have a fun riding crew there.
Like Shaun White and his private half pipe [built by Red Bull before the last Olympics]?
Haha yeah though it won’t be private, I like having people to ride with.
So the ESPN body issue came out this summer and Elena Hight posed naked. Would you ever do it?
No
Have you been asked?
Yeah I’ve been asked hahaha.
I think it’s really cool you don’t. Do you want to talk about why?
It’s a personal choice for anybody and I guess for me…well the BODY issue is very tastefully done, guys sit alongside girls and it’s celebrating the athletes and the athletes’ bodies and the amazing things we do with our bodies so I think it’s great. It’s just you know the way I’ve been brought up, I’m just haha I don’t really want to exploit my body in that way. I’m very grateful for everything it does for me hahaha.
