Canadian boarder apologizes to Olympic teammate

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Slopestyle gold medalist Max Parrot said fellow Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris has apologized for saying Parrot only won because of questionable Olympic judging.

Parrot acknowledged to The Associated Press on Saturday that he failed to fully execute a grab on the first jump of the slopestyle course and said he was lucky the judges didn’t see it. He maintains he still had the best run of the day and earned his first Olympic gold.

Silver medalist China’s Su Yiming, left, embraces gold medalist Canada’s Max Parrot during a medals ceremony for the men’s snowboard slopestyle event at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Monday, Feb. 7, 2022, in Zhangjiakou, China.
(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

The lead official on the panel told snowboarding website Whitelines that the judges weren’t provided with replays or shots of some of the angles that were showing up on social media after the contest.

Parrot said the judging process needs an adjustment. He advocated for judges to have more access to slow-motion replays and bemoaned that panels are rushed into decisions because of time constraints created by television broadcasts.

“They probably missed a lot of other things as well on other riders’ runs that day,” Parrot said. “But you know, I understand the focus is on me, as I’ve won.”

Parrot got his gold about three years after beating cancer, but the feel-good story was quickly undercut by the controversy around his first trick.

The 27-year-old Parrot said he briefly had a hand on his board during his jump, but that it slipped off. He ended up grabbing his knee instead, an error akin to taking an extra step, or falling, in a gymnastics floor routine.

After winning, Parrot found replays of Su’s and McMorris’ runs. He said he spotted three “little mistakes” during McMorris’ turn, and also noted a few errors by Su.

“I didn’t have any mistakes on five of the six features,” Parrot said. “And on the one jump, I had a bigger mistake. And yeah, I definitely say that it’s a big mistake to not be able to hold the grab for the whole time.

“But how do you compare that? One big mistake versus multiple, small mistakes over the most technical run? That’s why it’s a judged sport.”

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