Ross Rebagliati

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ross Rebagliati Snowboard
Ross Rebagliati in 2012
nation CanadaCanada Canada
birthday 14th July 1971 (age 49)
place of birth Vancouver
size 178 cm
Weight 80 kg
Career
status resigned
End of career 2007
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
gold Nagano 1998 Giant slalom
Placements
FIS logo World cup
 Debut in the World Cup November 28, 1996
 World Cup victories 2
 Overall World Cup 13. ( 1996/97 )
 GS World Cup 3. ( 1996/97 )
 Podium placements 1. 2. 3.
 Otherwise. Racing disciplines 2 1 0
 

Ross Rebagliati (* 14. July 1971 in Vancouver ) is a Canadian entrepreneur , activist for cannabis legalization and former professional snowboarder . In 1998 he became Olympic giant slalom champion ; He made international headlines mainly because of his temporary disqualification because of the use of cannabis . He runs a company that manufactures and sells cannabidiol-containing medicines and foods.

biography

athlete

Rebagliati learned to ski in his childhood on Grouse Mountain near Vancouver. In the mid-1980s he switched to snowboarding - at a time when this sport was still considered exotic and was even banned in some places. To compensate for this, he went windsurfing and mountain biking in the summer . After graduating from school in 1991, he decided to practice snowboarding professionally. Since he did not yet have a significant sponsor, he was dependent on financial support from his father in the first season in order to be able to establish himself on the lucrative ISF tour in Europe. In the 1993/94 season he reached second place in the giant slalom ranking, and third place in the 1994/95 season.

Because of a torn cruciate ligament , Rebagliati missed the entire 1995/96 season. He then began to participate in the FIS Snowboard World Cup . In the 1996/97 season he won two races and took third place in the giant slalom classification. His participation in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano , where snowboarding was part of the program for the first time, was at risk due to an injury to his shin . Although Rebagliati got fit again in time, he was not considered a promising medal contender. The first snowboard decision in Olympic history, the giant slalom, took place on February 8, 1998. After the first run Rebagliati was only in eighth place, but then showed the best second run of all competitors. He moved up to the top with two hundredths of a second ahead of the Italian Thomas Prugger and won the gold medal.

Three days later, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to disqualify Rebagliati and revoke the medal because traces of cannabis had been detected in his doping test . Rebagliati protested that she hadn't smoked weed for ten months; However, friends of his had smoked joints during a farewell party before the games and the active ingredient THC probably got into his bloodstream through passive smoking. The Canadian delegation immediately appealed to the International Court of Justice for Sports (CAS). Although the active ingredient was listed on the IOC doping list, an actual ban was optional for the individual sports associations. Since there was no explicit cannabis ban in the FIS regulations at the time, the CAS overturned the IOC decision on February 12 due to the lack of a legal basis. Rebagliati had meanwhile been arrested by the Japanese police on suspicion of smuggling drugs into the country. He was released from prison after several hours of interrogation and was allowed to keep the medal.

His appearance on 16 February 1998 in Tonight Show from Jay Leno made Rebagliati to famous Olympian ever. When he returned to Whistler , where he lived at the time , thousands of people gave him an enthusiastic welcome. After the Olympic Games, Rebagliati continued his sports career, but could no longer build on his earlier achievements. He was active in the FIS World Cup until 2001, after which he sporadically participated in races in the Nor-Am Cup, the North American continental championship. In March 2007 he finally retired from top-class sport.

Activist and entrepreneur

After his Olympic victory, Rebagliati enjoyed his status as a global cannabis smoker icon and was widely considered a legalization activist in the media. Before a Rolling Stones concert in Denver , he was smoking a joint backstage with Keith Richards . Soon, however, the attention became too much for him and he lived a secluded life in a trailer by a remote lake for a while. He later got into the real estate business and planned, among other things, the construction of a luxury hotel. After a real estate bubble burst in 2007, he went into debt and temporarily had to earn a living as a construction worker. Although Rebagliati was never convicted of possession of cannabis, he was on the US “ No Fly List ” for more than a decade after 9/11 - solely because of his statements in the media on the subject. He was only allowed to cross the Canadian-American border with a court-approved injunction, which he had to renew regularly (he has only had full freedom of movement since 2017).

On October 22, 2009, Rebagliati announced his entry into politics. He sought the nomination as the candidate of the Liberal Party in the constituency of Okanagan-Coquihalla in the province of British Columbia to challenge the Conservative Trade Secretary Stockwell Day in the next general election . A little more than a year later, on November 19, 2010, he withdrew his candidacy and justified this step by saying that the center of his life had temporarily shifted from Kelowna to Whistler and he had to concentrate on his business activities there.

After the Canadian government cleared cannabis for medical use in 2013, Rebagliati founded Ross' Gold in Kelowna . On the one hand, it sold cannabis and cannabinoids as pharmaceuticals , and on the other, lifestyle products and accessories related to cannabis. Rebagliati also ran a mobile information center, with which he stopped in numerous Canadian cities. After the general election in 2015 , he expressed his hope that the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau would push for full legalization as promised. He himself sees it as his responsibility to pass on his knowledge in this area to the public. With cannabis legalization looming in Canada , Rebagliati sold his rights to Ross' Gold in December 2017 and started a new company called Legacy Brands the following month . It specializes in the manufacture and sale of cannabidiol-containing medicines and foods.

Rebagliati lives in Kelowna. He has a daughter and a son from his second marriage and a son from his first marriage.

successes

Olympic games

World championships

World cup

  • 1996/97 season : 3rd place in the giant slalom classification
  • 3 podium places, including 2 wins:
date place country discipline
December 6, 1996 Sestriere Italy Giant slalom
December 12, 1996 Whistler Canada Super G

ISF tour

  • 1993/94 season: 2nd place giant slalom classification
  • 1994/95 season: 3rd place in giant slalom classification

Web links

Commons : Ross Rebagliati  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ross Rebagliati. BC Sports Hall of Fame, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Rebagliati wins landmark snowboarding gold. IOC , February 8, 1998, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Simon Pausch: The marijuana trade has a golden future. Die Welt , February 18, 2014, accessed on February 28, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Lars Figura: Doping - between the right to freedom and the necessary prohibition . In: Sportforum . tape 20 . Meyer & Meyer, Aachen 2009, ISBN 978-3-89899-429-3 , pp. 231 .
  5. ↑ a b c Dan Bilefsy: Disgraced at Olympics Over Marijuana, Canadian Snowboarder Hopes to Ride to Cannabis Success. The New York Times , November 2, 2018, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  6. ^ Alan Siegel: How A Stoned Canadian Changed Sports History. Deadspin, February 11, 1998, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  7. ^ Robin Short: Ross Rebagliati: pioneer of the pot legalization journey. The Telegram, October 12, 2018, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Allison Tierney: The US Banned This Canadian Gold Medalist for Smoking Pot. Vice , September 29, 2017, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  9. ^ Snowboarder Rebagliati slides into politics. CBC News , October 22, 2009, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Steven Wicary: Ross Rebagliati's Liberal candidacy goes up in smoke. The Globe and Mail , November 19, 2010, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  11. ^ Avi Wolfman-Arent: Controversial Snowboarder Ross Rebagliati Opens Weed Dispensary, Embraces Past. Bleacher Report , April 18, 2013, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Valerie Fortney: Ross Rebagliati turns Olympic fame into 'pot' of gold. Calgary Herald, April 26, 2017, accessed February 28, 2019 .
  13. ^ Olympian Ross Rebagliati hopes new Liberal government will legalize marijuana. CBC News , October 23, 2015, accessed February 28, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Rebagliati, Ross
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian snowboarder
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Vancouver