The 2002 Winter Olympics Snowboarding - Clark Takes Olympic Halfpipe Gold

By Bach Siedair
EXPN.com
Feb. 10, 2002

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The Women's Olympic Pipe final was the best womens halfpipe comp ever. Plain and simple, It could have not turned out any better. The finals consisted of 12 riders, who would each take two runs with the best run counting.

As each woman poured into the pipe the ante was raised, but it all went down in the second run. It started with Shannon Dunn. Everyone was tense hoping she would be able to put the squeeze on the Euros in the home crowd. She dropped in and nailed down an inverted seven and a clean Mctwist. Her run was flawless, only lacking a bit of amplitude. She was in first and only a small handful was left to go including Doriane Vidal, Fabienne Reuteler, Tricia Byrnes, and Kelly Clark. Shannon knew her run was good, but let's face it, she was gripping as the field took sights on her score.

Shannon Dunn hangs with her dad after her second run.

Fabienne Reuteler dropped next. She ripped. She edged out Shannon by adding an extra seven and pumping a little more airtime out of the tranny. Doriane Vidal dropped. Same thing. A clean run virtually equal to Shannon's without a sketch in sight. Shannon was a bit more progressive with a inverted seven but the judges gave the advantage to Vidal. Shannon was bumped out of the top three. The crowd booed. Reuteler sat in second looking up the pipe with one rider to go, Kelly Clark. The 15,000 people sat in anticipation as Kris Jamieson, Gordy Johnson and Dave Duncan narrated the excited tension. Kelly dropped in and off the first hit you could tell the Gold was hers. Her amplitude was unmatched. Her fives and sevens were way over the top, not to mention that McTwist, damn. She missed some grabs but her amplitude and energy took it to the next level for competitive women.

Kelly going big and solid in her gold medal winning run.

When Kelly crossed the finish line, the crowd exploded. Then the scores came up and the dog pile media frenzy began. Kelly took first. Last rider to drop takes the first. It was something that could have not been scripted any better. The dogpile was documented by hundreds of photographers and television stations. Fellow riders and coaches were in the dogpile as well. The snowboard world knew that womens pipe had just entered a new level. The next realm had been opened. Kelly Clark just changed her life forever.

You are looking at it - the final podium.

The medalists on the podium.

On a side note: The Salt Lake Organizing Committee did a fantastic job at the venue. The ski factor was low and LIT rocked the halftime show. The vibe was all time and even Jake Burton was quoted as saying, "That was a great halfpipe comp." Besides all this the flower girls were hot. I mean real HOT.

Ouch! The flower girls...

2002 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES
February 10, 2002
Women's Halfpipe
Park City Mountain Resort

1. Kelly Clark, Mount Snow, Vt. (47.9)
2. Doriane Vidal, France (43.0)
3. Fabienne Reuteler, Switzerland (39.7)
4. Kjersti Buaas, Norway (37.3)
5. Shannon Dunn-Downing, Carnelian Bay, Calif. (37.2)
6. Tricia Byrnes, Stratton Mountain, Vt. (36.4)
7. Nici Pederzolli, Austria (35.7)
8. Yoko Miyake, Japan (33.7)
9. Minna Hesso, Finland (31.9)
10. Lisa Therese Wiik, Norway (28.9)
11. Nicola Thost, Germany (27.7)
12. Michiyo Hashimoto, Japan (26.6)

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Olympic Practice

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