Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
PYEONGCHANG, February 15
Listening to snowboarders reeling off the names of the tricks they laid down in their Olympic runs can be a confusing experience for fans and media alike.
A reporter couldn’t help but exclaim, “What the hell is a chicken salad?” A boarder laughed and explained that it is a move where the rider reaches between his legs with his rear hand to grab the edge of the board while keeping one leg extended.
Other trick names heard this week include “roast beef”, “melon” and “indy”, all of which are grabs, as well as flips with names like “wildcat” and “tamedog”.
All the spinning tricks such as “cork” or “stalefish”, named by American skateboarder Tony Hawk after a horrible meal served at a camp in Sweden, are paired with a number that reflects the degrees of rotation performed.
Snowboard tricks, many originating from skateboarding, have a bamboozling array of names but far from being nonsense, many come from the rich heritage of skateboarding and other extreme sports.
Hawk, widely regarded as one of the sport’s great pioneers and the first man to land a fabled 900, says the rebellious nature of extreme sports leads to the odd names.
“The basic rule is, if you did it first, you get to name it,” said Hawk. “Skateboarding has always been irreverent, so we liked to keep the names silly and full of puns.” One of the most popular tricks seen in Pyeongchang is the “Cab” — short for Caballerial — a spinning move named after skateboarding pioneer Steve Caballero.
White Mctwist
It is not uncommon for tricks to be named after the people who first performed them, including the McTwist, a forward flipping backside 540.
American Shaun White, who won his third Olympics gold medal in the men’s halfpipe today, is credited with creating a double McTwist, which includes a 720 degree rotation, and performing it for the first time when winning halfpipe gold at Vancouver in 2010.
