ZHANGJIAKOU (CHINA) – Max Parrot, a Canadian snowboarder, was “at zero percent” when he had chemotherapy a few decades ago. But now he is competing at the Beijing Olympics.
Parrot stated that quitting snowboarding was not an option, despite discovering he had Hodgkin’s lymphoma four years prior to his win in slopestyle at Pyeongchang Games.
Instead, he turned to the possibility of competing in his third Olympics to motivate himself.
This will be a reality on Saturday, February 5, when the slopestyle competition begins. It takes place one day after the Beijing Games.
After training in Zhangjiakou (a mountain town where snowboarding events are held), the 27-year old told AFP, “It was a lot work.”
“Chemotherapy brings you down to zero percent – no more muscle, no cardio, and no more energy. All that had to be rebuilt.
Parrot was unable to snowboard for six months while he received chemotherapy. He returned to competition in late 2019
He quickly recovered his winning habits with X Games titles from Norway and Aspen and finished first in the Beijing Games test event.
Although he has his sights on gold, he stated that just getting to the Games was enough.
He said, “It was an enormous motivation – I had been out of snowboarding over six months and snowboarding has become my life, what have I done every day since the age of nine years old.”
“To be able to compete at the Olympics again was definitely a big motivation for me to beat my cancer.”
Parrot will compete in Big Air as well. Red Gerard, the 2018 American champion, will be challenging him for the slopestyle gold.
The Zhangjiakou slopestyle course has already earned a reputation for being dangerous. American women’s champion Jamie Anderson said that the man-made snow was “bulletproof”.
After injuring her spine during a fall on the course, Rina Yoshika, a Japanese rider was forced to withdraw from the Games.
Parrot says that slopestyle, which involves daredevil stunts and vertigo-inducing jumps, isn’t as dangerous as it seems.
He said, “We do things that look dangerous, but we know how it can be controlled.”
There is always a risk but we can reduce that risk to a minimum. “I’m just trying to have a lot more fun.
