By Philip O’Connor
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Norwegian Sochi silver medallist Staale Sandbech referenced basketball great Michael Jordan as he prepares to bring down the curtain on his snowboarding career at the Beijing Olympics, where he will compete in Tuesday’s Big Air event.
The 28-year-old is competing at his fourth and final Olympics before switching his focus to free riding, swapping carefully-sculpted competition courses and jumps for off-piste and backwoods snowboarding.
“I want to concentrate more on filming and free riding, and other aspects of snowboarding. Yeah, maybe this is ‘The Last Dance’, we’ll see,” he told reporters, referring to the 10-part documentary series produced by Netflix and ESPN about NBA legend Jordan.
Sandbech made his debut in Vancouver in 2010, finishing 14th in the halfpipe event before taking the silver as slopestyle made its Olympic debut four years later.
Sandbech scored 91.75 points in the final, 1.75 points fewer than American winner Sage Kotsenburg, with many observers saying that the Norwegian should have got the gold.
He returned four years later and just missed the slopestyle podium at the Pyeongchang Games, and plans to go out on his own terms in the Beijing Big Air competition.
“I’m really looking forward to Big Air. I will ride more for myself, rather than thinking about 1800s (spins) and the biggest tricks,” he said.
“I will try to bring out my charm in the tricks and enjoy myself, enjoy the last moment with the guys here in the Olympics,” he added.
Sandbech won gold in the Big Air event at the World Championships in Aspen, Colorado in 2017 and has a haul of two silver and three bronze medals from X Games.
Qualifying for the Big Air event takes place on Monday, with the medals set to be decided by Tuesday’s finals.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
