Slopestyle wizard O’Brien can’t wait for a second shot at Olympic glory
Spencer O’Brien’s tearful disappointment in placing 12th in slopestyle endeared her to sports fans across Canada during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Courtenay product, who had gone into Sochi as the defending world champion, was named Tuesday to the seven-member Canadian snowboard slopestyle team and will get another crack at the Winter Games podium next month in South Korea at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
“This is such a unique opportunity. I learned so much from the last Olympic Games,” said O’Brien, the native of Alert Bay, who honed her skills on the slopes of Mount Washington.
“To have an off day in the final [at Sochi] was a hard pill to swallow. I have more experience now and know what to expect, and that plays into my advantage because I know what’s coming.”
Part of that learning curve is realizing the Olympics are not like a World Cup stop.
“It’s a different vibe,” the 29-year-old said.
“So many more eyes are on the Canadian team at the Olympics than [there] are at a World Cup event. My grandma’s best friend is going to watch the Olympics. That brings a different element and a different kind of pressure.”
And a different kind of pride during competition.
“In the Winter X Games, I feel like I am only dropping in for myself. I feel at the Olympics like I am part of something bigger than myself. You really feel for your nation when you wear the Canadian colours at the Games and want to make people back home proud.”
The Islander already has done that on many levels, especially in having to overcome the pain and swelling caused by early-onset rheumatoid arthritis. It began afflicting O’Brien after she won the world championship in 2013 and in the lead-up to Sochi.
“I put blinders on that year and pretended not to have it,” she said.
But the five-time X Games medallist would eventually have to face it: “The arthritis is a huge thing. I’ve adjusted my life to living with it. It concerns me for the future. But right now I feel myself again, and I am not going to let it hold me back.”
Also named to the Canadian team, for both slopestyle and the new big-air board event, are seven-time X Games-champion Mark McMorris of Regina, Max Parrot of Bromont, Que., Sébastien Toutant of L’Assomption, Que., 2017 women’s slopestyle world champion Laurie Blouin of Stoneham, Que., Tyler Nicholson of North Bay, Ont., and Brooke Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta.
Parrot has four podium finishes this World Cup season, with two golds and two silvers. McMorris won men’s slopestyle bronze at Sochi.
Islander Darcy Sharpe, whose sister Cassie Sharpe of Comox is expected to be named to the Olympic team for ski freestyle half-pipe, was chosen as the alternate for the Canadian slopestyle team for Pyeongchang. Darcy Sharpe is only 21 and his time will likely come at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
“It’s cool to see so much talent coming off the Island,” O’Brien said.
“It’s special to see Cassie and Darcy coming up and adds an extra element of pride to see hometown athletes doing so well. Mount Washington, because of the terrain, produces well-rounded athletes. Mount Washington certainly shaped me as a boarder.”