Snowboarding Is Taking World by Storm

“What is a 1080?” If you know the answer to this question, you are familiar with the world’s fastest developing winter sport.

A 1080 is the latest snowboarding move. How well you execute it could be your ticket to the Torino Winter Olympics, and decide the color of your medal.

The New York Times recently introduced its readers to what it is all about.

A quarter of all snowboarding pros practice 1080s--

The term stands for 1080 degrees, which is three complete revolutions. This technique did not exist five years ago. The latest move back then was a 900 (two-and-a-half revolutions). But Since Ross Powers and Danny Kaas of U.S. first showed off a 1080 in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and won the gold and silver, respectively, it has spread like wild fire. U.S snowboarder Mason Aguirre says, “1080 is the new world standard in snowboarding techniques.”

Roughly 25 percent of world’s pro snowboarders are thought to be capable of executing this move or in process of mastering it. The 1080 has given birth to many variations, including back flips, spinning while holding the board, and other moves. Video games such as “1080 Avalanche” and “1080 Snowboarding” have also appeared in the market.

2010 Olympics will see “1260”—

In order to make three revolutions in midair, you must gain enough altitude. Then you stretch your body vertically and make a fast spin. You must stay focused the whole time in order to land on your feet.

Sean White, the first-place qualifier in U.S. national team draft last December, said, “I really hate this move. Your head spins out of control and you sometimes lose your sense of direction in midair. At those moments I just hope that I don’t land out-of- bounds.”

No female athlete has attempted 1080 in the Olympics as of yet, but many predict it will happen soon. The New York Times suggests that the next Olympics will see snowboarders attempting 1260s (3.5 revolutions), and that snowboarders who have not yet mastered 1080 should do their best to catch up.

Snowboarding was recognized as an official Olympic sport at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics-

The history of snowboarding goes back as far as 1959, when people tried using piece of board instead of skis in the snowy mountainous regions of the U.S. The snowboard’s shape as we know it first appeared in 1970 as an attempt to integrate a surfboard and a ski. Since the majority of the skiing population was traditionally upper-middle class, snowboarding was considered a street or “extreme” sport for quite a while, until its recognition as an official Olympic sport at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics.

Snowboarding started to spread quickly in Korea starting in 1995, when the famous pop-group Seo Taiji and Kids introduced the sport through their music video and the song called “Free Style.”

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com