Snowboarding

Winter Olympic sport, which consists in the descent from the snow-covered slopes and mountains on a special projectile - snowboarding. Initially, winter sport, although some extreme athletes have mastered it, even in summer, snowboarding on the sandy slopes.

Because, often, snowboarding runs on unprepared slopes and at high speeds, for protection against injuries using various equipment - helmets, protection of joints, arms, legs, back.

At the Winter Olympics in 1998 in Nagano, snowboarding was first included in the Olympic program.

The invention belongs to the top snowboard 1960s. Sherman Poppen of Muskegon, Michigan, invented and built for his daughter in 1965, a modern likeness snowboard called snёrferom (snurfer - a word composed of two others - snow ( «Snow") and surf - «surf»). He glued two skis in one. By design snёrfer he was very close to the skateboard, but without wheels. Snёrfer had no bindings, and to stay on the board, rolling around had to hold on to a rope tied to his nose. Instructions for use are also recommended to be used for skating skid footwear. Already snёrfera production was started in 1966 as a children's toy.

Over the next years growing popularity of the sport. Great contribution to the improvement of the equipment made by such men as Demetrius Milovic, Jake Burton Carpenter (founder of Burton Snowboards), Tom Sims (founder of Sims Snowboards) and Mike Olson (founder of Mervin Manufacturing). Surfer from the east coast of the USA Dimitry Milovic in 1972 founded the company Winterstick for the production of snowboards, which is already in 3 years has received mention in Newsweek magazine. Boards Winterstick inherited structural principles of surf and ski.

In 1979, near the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, it was held the first ever World Championship snёrfingu. In these competitions I participated and Jake Burton, who perfected snёrf, adding to mounting feet. This improvement led to protests from the other participants, since it differed from the original shell. However, Paul Graves, the best of snёrfingistov that time, together with other athletes, the organizers persuaded to allow him to compete. As a result of a separate competition it was created, in which Burton and won, being the only participant. This championship is now considered to be the first in the history of the competition in snowboarding, as an independent discipline.

In 1982, in the town of Six Suisayd (near the town of Woodstock, Vermont), the first nationwide US slalom were held. In 1983, at Soda Springs, California, hosted the first World Championship halfpipe. The organizer made by Tom Sims and Mike Chantry, a local instructor Snowboard.

The growth of snowboarding's popularity led to the official recognition of it as a winter sport: in 1985 in the Austrian ski resort of Zürs, the first World Cup. A year earlier, for the development of common rules of the competition and the organization of their conduct was established International Association of Snowboard (ISA). In the mid-1990s, the IOC recognized as the official governing body of the International Federation of snowboarding Ski (FIS). Therefore, all the major international competitions on a snowboard from the mid-1990s have been conducted under the auspices and rules of the International Ski Federation.

Currently, snowboarding as a sport is firmly won its place. Snowboard held all kinds of top-level competition: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, X-Games, US Open, and others. These competitions are broadcast TV worldwide. Many ski resorts offer special snowboard parks - snow constructions trick snowboarding (and skiing).