For snowboarders, music matters

PYEONGCHANG — At the Olympic snowboard events, the party-like atmosphere includes dance music booming in the background and loud gasps of “ooooh” and “ahhhh” from the lively crowds responding to every high-flying trick.

But when American Arielle Gold dropped into the halfpipe for her bronze medal-winning run, she didn’t hear any of it.

“I was listening to 8 Mile by Eminem,” she said after the race. “I always listen to Eminem when I’m snowboarding. I really like his lyrics. He fought an uphill battle, and sometimes it feels like that’s what I’m doing. He overcame, and I can do the same.”

Music has long had a place in Olympic competition. Michael Phelps was known for wearing headphones until the final seconds before jumping in the water. At the

1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, the British bobsled team repeatedly listened to Whitney Houston’s anthem One Moment in Time to inspire them to a bronze.

But music has a unique role for snowboarders, many of whom not only listen to music to pump themselves up before the event, but also blast it during the actual competition to drown out the din around them.

Kelly Clark of the United States, a five-time Olympian who finished fourth in the halfpipe competition here, said she uses music to drown everything else out and simplify her environment.

“I can’t control what the judges think or what the weather is doing or the tricks the other girls are doing,” Clark said.

“But I can control what I hear.”