Zoi Sadowski-Synnott celebrates after winning gold in the women's slopestyle. Photo / AP
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott celebrates after winning gold in the women's slopestyle. Photo / AP
Kris Shannon runs through five reasons why Zoi Sadowski-Synnott's gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics is a game changer.
1. Inspiration for next generation
Before Zoi Sadowski-Synnott made history on Sunday, before her exploits led every media outlet in the country and her f-bombing dadwent viral, she had already noticed something was changing.
"I've seen a wave of young guns coming through after the last Olympics," Sadowski-Synnott told Forbes on the eve of Beijing. "There's a few younger ones who are coming up who are absolutely ripping, so we're definitely going to see more female snowboarders out of New Zealand."
That wave, after her success on the Genting Snow Park slopes, will now surely swell to epic proportions.
That's what happens when a minor sport earns attention during an Olympics; the next generation watching on thinks they might like to give it a go.
Snow sports are already popular recreational activities in New Zealand. But before events like slopestyle were added to the Olympic programme in Sochi 2014, that's all they were to most Kiwi kids.
Now, with Sadowski-Synnott's gold medal shining like a beacon, many more young guns will be following.
Snowboarding can seem a young person's game, and indeed the perpetual influx of youth plays a key role in driving the sport's progression.
But two-time defending slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson was 31 in Beijing - and was still seen as a medal chance before finishing ninth. That's an age the 20-year-old Sadowski-Synnott will surpass, if she's still competing, only at her fifth Olympics.
Let's lock her in for another medal in the big air next Tuesday, a reasonable ask when the Kiwi won X Games gold in the event last month.
That will see her collection increase to three Olympic medals - with the possibility of another six to play for across the next three Games.
At the risk of getting extremely ahead of ourselves, Sadowski-Synnott could become one of our greatest Olympians, with no seasonal prefix attached (more on that soon).
3. Reminds us that sport is fun…
It's easy to forget, amid the griping from some codes about Covid restrictions and financial hardships, that sport is supposed to be fun.
You remember fun. Chasing after a ball or snowboarding down a hill can certainly both qualify, even if the professional participants in the former sometimes make it seem like the opposite.
There's never any doubt that fun is inextricably linked with snowboarding. Look at them on the startline, cueing up a playlist undoubtedly filled with bangers before zipping their phones back in their jacket pockets.
Look at them when they finish, all smiles and expressions of support for one another regardless of whether a jump was landed or run completed.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott celebrates with American Julia Marino and Australia's Tess Coady. Photo / AP
The rapturous reaction from her fellow medallists to Sadowski-Synnott's golden run encapsulated that, and it was no surprise the Kiwi said that camaraderie was one of her favourite aspects of snowboarding.
Self-seriousness and bitterness has its place in top-level competition, just so long as it doesn't totally eclipse all the fun.
4. …but also strengthens business of snow sports
At the risk of undermining the Pollyanna of the previous section, elite sport is obviously a business, and money is needed to allow athletes their fun.
Snow Sports NZ already reaped the benefits of Sadowski-Synnott and Nico Porteous' success in Pyeongchang, shifting from a campaign-funded sport to tier two in High Performance Sport NZ's investment programme, receiving a $250,000 increase to $2.25 million per year.
Snow Sports NZ were not included in the latest HPSNZ investment round in December, given Beijing was right around the corner, and a gold medal or three will no doubt further sweeten the next pot.
Any additional funding can only enhance facilities in this country and trickle down to coaches, physios, nutritionists, and every other building block that goes into moulding gold medallists.
On an individual level, all the media attention will also amplify sponsorship possibilities, and it's difficult to think of a more marketable young Kiwi athlete than Sadowski-Synnott.
5. Increases interest in the (Winter) Olympics
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott. Photo / AP
Four years is a long time to wait between Olympics. That's why Paris coming three years after Tokyo is one of the pandemic's few silver linings.
But what if I told you the Olympics actually takes place every two years?
That's the dream scenario in which much of the northern hemisphere lives, countries where the Games in Beijing don't have a seasonal qualifier attached.
They're known simply as the Olympics, the same thing last year's get-together in Tokyo was called, and it can be that way in New Zealand too.
Instead of treating these cold and fake-snowy Games as a second-class citizen, we can and should elevate them to equal status with their hot and sweaty counterpart.
It's easy to do - we just need the mainstream breakthrough that athletes like Sadowski-Synnott provide.
More medals beget more interest and, as mentioned, more quality sportspeople coming through to win more medals.
Then we, too, can live in the wonderland of watching an Olympics every other year.
