By Shannon Dunn
EXPN.com
Jan. 15, 2002
I just came from the last Grand Prix event at Breckenridge. The actual event was good, but to be completely honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it. It just seemed like the overall vibe would be stressful since it was the last Olympic qualifying event - and it was! Since I made the Olympic team in December, I wanted to use this event as a tester for my riding. I decided to change my run and do something that would push my mental snowboarding, so I tried a trick that's pretty hard for me (rodeo 720). I tried it at the top of the pipe, so if I didn't land it, then my run would be toast! It was fun for me to see if I could pull it. My practices were better than finals, but I had fun with the day and was stoked to do something different. I ended up in a happy fourth place - since I lost speed after landing the rodeo and because of the new snow in the pipe for the finals. Kelly Clark won the event and is doing super rad mctwists. Cara-Beth Burnside got second ... yeah, CB! And Gretchen Bleiler got third. Gretchen had to get second place to make the Olympic team, but instead Tricia Byrnes is on. Breckenridge was a crazy event for men, because it was a make-it-or-brake-it contest for them. Danny Kass, Ross Powers, Tommy Czeschin, and J.J. Thomas were named to the Olympic team Sunday night. I think it's super cool J.J. and Danny are going because they just don't seem like the typical half pipe riders - they add lots of personality to the team! So, Sunday night I stayed at my Swedish friend Jenny's house! It was so good - I felt like I had a slice of normal life for a night. She made insanely yummalicious Swedish apple pie with special Swedish sauce ... mmmm, mmm good! We just stayed up late laughing at our funny stories. This morning I drove to Aspen to shoot with the "matrix" camera with J.J. and Shaun White. That camera is pretty cool because it has 30 cameras taking photos of you at once. We had fun just doing one-hitters. It was so good to get checked in for the X Games early because that can be hectic. There are so many people and it takes so much time. I'm looking forward to the X Games. It's like living in a video game! The whole vibe in so fun - I love it. Buttermilk is a pretty good place to have the X Games since all the venues are visible from below. Today I really want to ride, but I am going to be good to my body and take a couple days off. I'm getting a massage and then maybe I'll go shopping - yeah, I'm your typical girl - ha! I'm going to the Olympics and going for the gold, but I'm not worried about what ends up happening - I just have fun setting my sights high. Sometimes I achieve my goals and sometimes I don't. Life to me is just going for stuff! For any of you who are reading this - maybe you want to go for you own personal "gold"! This is pretty cheesy, but since I got some of the Olympic reading material, I thought I'd share it with you all to just have fun with. Now we can all be Olympians because I'm sharing the "secret stuff"! Here's what the official Olympic reading material says: We are supposed to write our Olympic mission - what it is we want to accomplish. You can write whatever your goal is - anything you want. Then write down "To accomplish my mission, I will focus on the following keys at the Games (1-5). The Games, to you, should be a time you want to achieve your goal even if it's for your entire life. Then the manual says to write "To focus on my keys (1-5), I will do the following on a daily basis (1-5)". I'll let you know closer to the games how I'm doing with my keys! GO TEAM!!! TAKE CARE -- GOD BLESS!! Shannon
• Ross Powers' Olympic Diary: Olympic Diary
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EXPN.com
Jan. 15, 2002
I just came from the last Grand Prix event at Breckenridge. The actual event was good, but to be completely honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it. It just seemed like the overall vibe would be stressful since it was the last Olympic qualifying event - and it was! Since I made the Olympic team in December, I wanted to use this event as a tester for my riding. I decided to change my run and do something that would push my mental snowboarding, so I tried a trick that's pretty hard for me (rodeo 720). I tried it at the top of the pipe, so if I didn't land it, then my run would be toast! It was fun for me to see if I could pull it. My practices were better than finals, but I had fun with the day and was stoked to do something different. I ended up in a happy fourth place - since I lost speed after landing the rodeo and because of the new snow in the pipe for the finals. Kelly Clark won the event and is doing super rad mctwists. Cara-Beth Burnside got second ... yeah, CB! And Gretchen Bleiler got third. Gretchen had to get second place to make the Olympic team, but instead Tricia Byrnes is on. Breckenridge was a crazy event for men, because it was a make-it-or-brake-it contest for them. Danny Kass, Ross Powers, Tommy Czeschin, and J.J. Thomas were named to the Olympic team Sunday night. I think it's super cool J.J. and Danny are going because they just don't seem like the typical half pipe riders - they add lots of personality to the team! So, Sunday night I stayed at my Swedish friend Jenny's house! It was so good - I felt like I had a slice of normal life for a night. She made insanely yummalicious Swedish apple pie with special Swedish sauce ... mmmm, mmm good! We just stayed up late laughing at our funny stories. This morning I drove to Aspen to shoot with the "matrix" camera with J.J. and Shaun White. That camera is pretty cool because it has 30 cameras taking photos of you at once. We had fun just doing one-hitters. It was so good to get checked in for the X Games early because that can be hectic. There are so many people and it takes so much time. I'm looking forward to the X Games. It's like living in a video game! The whole vibe in so fun - I love it. Buttermilk is a pretty good place to have the X Games since all the venues are visible from below. Today I really want to ride, but I am going to be good to my body and take a couple days off. I'm getting a massage and then maybe I'll go shopping - yeah, I'm your typical girl - ha! I'm going to the Olympics and going for the gold, but I'm not worried about what ends up happening - I just have fun setting my sights high. Sometimes I achieve my goals and sometimes I don't. Life to me is just going for stuff! For any of you who are reading this - maybe you want to go for you own personal "gold"! This is pretty cheesy, but since I got some of the Olympic reading material, I thought I'd share it with you all to just have fun with. Now we can all be Olympians because I'm sharing the "secret stuff"! Here's what the official Olympic reading material says: We are supposed to write our Olympic mission - what it is we want to accomplish. You can write whatever your goal is - anything you want. Then write down "To accomplish my mission, I will focus on the following keys at the Games (1-5). The Games, to you, should be a time you want to achieve your goal even if it's for your entire life. Then the manual says to write "To focus on my keys (1-5), I will do the following on a daily basis (1-5)". I'll let you know closer to the games how I'm doing with my keys! GO TEAM!!! TAKE CARE -- GOD BLESS!! Shannon
• Ross Powers' Olympic Diary: Olympic Diary
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