Looking Sideways Podcast: Spencer O'Brien, Episode 47

Snowboarder Spencer O’Brien entered the 2018 Olympics with high hopes.

As has been well documented, the weather was so bad that none of the competitors wanted to ride – but the contest went ahead anyway. The result was a travesty of a slopestyle contest that let the competitors and snowboarding in general down.

Why is this important? Its no secret that action sports have a thorny relationship with the Olympics, and the 2018 women’s slopestyle seemed to confirm concerns that have been voiced for decades. This is a story about what happens when action sports culture gets subsumed by the mainstream, and how it affects our unique culture in the process.

The fallout rumbled on for weeks, and Spencer herself was so incensed that she wrote an open letter offering a unique competitor’s perspective. As somebody who has been at the forefront of women’s snowboarding for a decade, Spencer is somebody able to offer a unique perspective on the whole messy issue.

The result is a completely frank conversation with one of the biggest presences in women’s snowboarding that covers the Olympics, Spencer’s own take on the farrago, what it means for snowboarding and her own career, and also doesn’t shy away from the tough questions that come with this perennial Olympic snowboarding debate.

Honest, thoughtful and with the same graceful, progressive approach she has brought to her entire career, the result is one of my most honest and revealing episodes yet. Don’t miss it.

via Looking Sideways