WEST VANCOUVER — Holding a daughter in each arm, Jasey-Jay Anderson squeezed his eyes shut as he stood atop the podium Saturday.
Canada’s snowboarding icon finally added an Olympic gold to a career in which he has accomplished virtually everything.
“Pretty hard to beat, eh?” said Anderson, who won the parallel giant slalom. “Olympic gold at home. That’s the one.”
Bronze medalist Mathieu Bozzetto of France called the conditions “ugly” and criticized race managers for using chemical hardeners that turned the course into an ice rink covered in water. All four of the quarterfinals, including one involving American Chris Klug, were decided after one of the riders skidded off course.
“I feel like I’m going salmon fishing more than snowboarding out here,” Klug said. “I feel like I’m going on a surf trip, it’s so wet.” Klug, who won bronze in 2002 some 18 months after a lifesaving liver transplant, finished seventh.
The AP
