Events Included • Men's Giant Slalom • Women's Giant Slalom • Men's Half Pipe • Women's Half Pipe Venue Kanbayashi Snowboard Park, Yamanouchi Snowboard giant slalom course, Mount Yakebitai, Shiga Kogen
Event Basics Hide the kids. Lock up the liquor cabinet. Snowboarding has made it to the Olympics. The "outlaw" of snow sports -- skiers and boarders still don't see goggle to goggle -- snowboarding has barged into the mainstream for the first time at this Olympics. Expect a bit of irreverence, some great outfits, some wonderful personalities -- and some chilling competition. Olympics snowboarding is divided into two disciplines, though that's not what boarders would call it. The athletes will race giant slalom -- a simple "who gets down the hill fastest" deal, sans poles -- and halfpipe, the acrobatic, anything-goes part of the sport. The halfpipe is, almost literally, just that. A wall, 3.4 meters high and 15 meters wide, on each side of a curved floor is the venue. The snowboarders zip back and forth across the tube, spinning, flipping, skidding...all very innovative stuff. Five judges look for technique, rotation, height, landing and something called "technical merit." There's a preliminary and final round, both two runs each. If a snowboarder makes it to the finals, the preliminary scores are thrown out. The giant slalom involves two runs, with the winner being the one with the lowest combined time. The sport, already racked by controversy involving two organizations that claim to be the "ruling" body, has a huge to-do heading into Nagano. Three-time world champion Terje Haakonsen of Norway has said he'll boycott the Games. Like many in his sport, Haakonsen is unhappy that the International Olympic Committee has appointed FIS, the international skiing federation, as the organizers of Olympic snowboarding instead of the International Snowboarding Federation. Haakonsen, in the spirit of his rebel sport, likened the IOC to the Mafia.
Past Winners First time in Olympics
Who to watch Jeff Greenwood, USA, 1st at '96 Worlds Mike Jacoby, USA, 2nd at '96 Worlds Karine Ruby, France, 2nd at '96 Worlds Margherita Parini, Italy, 2nd in World Cup standings	Schedule Feb. 8 Men's giant slalom 9:30 a.m. JT (7:00 p.m. ET Feb. 7) Feb. 9 Women's giant slalom 9:30 a.m. JT (7:00 p.m. ET Feb. 8) Feb. 12 Half pipe preliminary (men and women) 9:30 a.m. JT (7:00 p.m. ET Feb.11) Half pipe final (men and women) 1:30 p.m. JT (11:30 p.m. ET Feb.11)