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The sponsorship issue is just one battle in an ongoing war between snowboarding's two governing bodies, the I.S.F. (International Snowboard Federation) and the F.I.S. (Federation Internationale du Ski). The International Olympic Committee's 1996 decision to award Olympic-qualifying status to the F.I.S., organizer of skiing's World Cup circuit, nearly sparked violence at some European events. Says Fawcett: "The F.I.S. didn't want anything to do with us until they realized it was going to be an Olympic event and that there would be [TV] network interest and a great deal of money." Other riders felt the F.I.S. had little understanding of snowboarding's anti-Establishment culture. The scuttlebutt too was that the F.I.S. circuit is second rate.
Skirmishes aside, 55 snowboarders from 15 countries will be stepping off the bullet train in Nagano and catching air before an estimated 10,000 spectators. Riders will be competing in one of two snowboarding disciplines: the halfpipe and the Alpine race, the giant slalom. The halfpipe confrontation will take place in a semicylindrical course (394 ft. long and 12 ft. deep) in which riders perform like skateboarders, executing flips and rotations before a panel of judges. The giant slalom in Nagano will involve threading through gates along a 3,100-ft. run down the mountain.
One of the must-see rivalries will pit Richards, 28, against Powers, 18, who is an F.I.S. halfpipe prodigy and has already done much to pump up the competitiveness of the F.I.S. circuit. The outgoing Richards, though he had some difficulty in the first Grand Prix event, came on to win the second stop at Mount Bachelor with a fluid technical style rooted in his first passion, skateboarding. Powers, one of the more disciplined and reserved riders on the tour, has exploded into the top rankings this winter with several convincing wins. Even without Haakonsen, the U.S. will have its hands full holding off another Norwegian in the halfpipe, Daniel Franck. With a crowd-pleasing style and powerful amplitude, Franck could break his string of runner-up finishes to add to his country's cache of gold.
Michelle Taggart, 27, looks to be the best American women's halfpipe artist. A veteran and four-time World Champion, Taggart has made an impressive comeback run this season, including wins at both Mount Bachelor and ESPN's alterna-event, the X-Games, to become the first freestylist named to the squad. A resident of Salem, Ore., Taggart is one of the few active riders to have won both racing and freestyle titles, though she now focuses her efforts solely on the halfpipe. One of the sport's true female pioneers, Taggart has triple the contest experience of her competitors and is only getting better as the Games draw near.