Gian Simmen 2002-2003 (eng)

Okay, so you know he won the first ever Olympic gold medal to be awarded for snowboarding. Who doesn’t? You probably know that he’s the ISF Half Pipe World Champion (for the second time) and that he beat Terje at the Norwegian Godfather’s very own event. You might even know that he appeared on the cover of Onboard as the alarming apparition of Gene Simmons, lead singer of Kiss, caked to the eyeballs in make up without a pair of goggles in sight. What you don’t know is that the man snowboards regular but skateboards goofy, speaks three languages and includes golf caddying as well as spinning Swiss hip-hop on his C.V. It is, admittedly, a word that has often been associated with his name, either due to unimaginative journalism or perhaps because no other word seems to fit the bill better. But whichever way you look at it, Gian Simmen ROCKS. See for yourself. Interview by Toasty Kunheim.Although you’re not a rider who obsesses over results, you’ve got a list of them the same length as your snowboard. Which one do you measure as being the most successful?My greatest sporting success was winning the gold medal at the Olympics in 1998 in Nagano. My biggest failure was the 2002 Olympics at Salt Lake where I fell flat on my face twice.How did the experience of winning the Olympic gold at Nagano change you?When you win the Olympics, you become a national hero or at least that’s what they say. I had to learn to deal with the press and attention really fast and at the beginning that wasn’t easy, but I learned quick and I survived. I’m basically still the same guy I was before I won the Olympics except I’m 4 years older, maybe a little smarter, and more experienced with the press.How did you feel as the defending champion not making the half pipe final at Salt Lake?Yeah, of course you’re real mad at first, your whole world collapses, you’ve trained hard, you know you can do it, and then it doesn’t work out. I was real mad at myself, sure, I got real upset, I had to stay away from people – and then later you tell yourself, okay it’s over, it’s happened and it’s like a huge weight’s been lifted off your shoulders.There’s a rumour going around that you went freeriding during the finals.No, I was commentating for the Swiss National TV but I flew back to Tahoe first thing next morning!!!!Was not getting a medal at the Olympics extra motivation to successfully defend your half pipe world title?Not really because the (scoring) system was really complicated and I didn’t calculate what I had till I got to the last competition in Davos. And there were still 4 or 5 guys who had a chance to win the title. Of course I was doing my best in the contest but I didn’t have the title in mind. It came a long as a nice present for a hard winter and I was stoked because I sucked at the Olympics.Snowboarding was only introduced as an Olympic sport in 1998, the year you won. Do you think it’s a good thing that snowboarding is a part of it?With the Olympics, snowboarding has started to get more professional – there’s more money in the game. It’s nice that we’re at the Olympics and it’s a good opportunity for young kids to make themselves a good name. There are so many television stations and newspapers there so you reach a lot of people that aren’t usually interested in snowboarding and you can present to them what snowboarding is all about. And that’s really exciting I think.Being relatively young, snowboarding has sometimes suffered from unfair misconceptions in the past. Do you still think that’s true?I think that, especially in Switzerland, the media has finally learnt that snowboarding’s not just about drinking and smoking spliffs, but that it’s actually a real sport which you need to train for. You have to put a lot of effort in to making it happen but we have such fun doing it that it makes all the hard work worthwhile.Snowboarding’s obviously a seasonal sport but it’s also your job. How much of the year do you spend on your board?I have so much fun snowboarding that I ride all year round and only take a two month break to go on holiday with my girlfriend, chill at home for a bit or do my military duties – in Switzerland it’s compulsory for everybody unfortunately. Apart from that, I’m always riding, trying new stuff out and I still having a real fun time doing it. I skateboard a lot, in Summer I also mountain bike, stretch and condition my upper body because if you fall, then you fall on your upper body. You don’t have to be like Arnold Schwarzenegger but muscles are a protection against injuries, so if you’re fit and in shape you’re going to be better off, even if you still look like a stick.Speaking of injuries, you’ve just recovered from a pretty nasty one. What happened?I fell in a gap. It was a pretty stupid accident but luckily it was at the end of the season. I tore the ligaments under my collarbone and my shoulder went out of the socket so I had to have surgery. Since then I am rocking a metal plate and 3 screws in my shoulder.Even though your injury meant not riding for three months, did the forced abstinence also have any positive effects?For sure I had time to chill, spin records on my turntables, learn how to cook and draw some designs for clothes.For those of us who can’t do alley- oop 540s or anything close to it, please describe what’s going on in your head when you’re in the pipe.You really have to focus on what you want to do when you’re in the pipe. When you drop in, you already know what you want to do for the whole run. Once you’ve dropped in, you have to be super fast, take all the speed you can and point the lip to where you want to take off. Then you do your trick and once you’ve done your trick, you spot the landing point with your eyes – that helps to land high up on the wall so you don’t lose any speed and it helps not to crash. It sounds pretty basic and simple but it’s kind of tricky (laughs).What does it feel like to land a new trick?When you land a good trick, you’re just happy that you ride away clean. If some friends have seen you and they give you props for it, it makes you feel really good and you want to go up straight away and do it again. It’s difficult to describe, it’s a feeling you have to live and feel for yourself. It’s like when you start snowboarding, the first turn is an amazing feeling, that you put it together and did a turn at all. It’s the same in skateboarding when you do your first ollie – it’s incredible that you can leave the ground without a ramp.Snowboarding is an incredibly subjective sport. How much of a role does creativity play in what you do?Creativity is a really big thing in snowboarding because it’s an individual sport. There’s no rule how to do a trick – everybody does it differently and that’s what makes it so special. You always have to imagine for yourself how a trick works best for you. Maybe another guy does it way differently but it’s still called the same trick. So you always have to be on it and use your brain, even if it hurts (laughs).So when you’re on the coping, watching your mates, how do you rate style?It’s how you do a trick – a good grab, good bone all the way through the spin – I think that’s the most important thing, not how much you spin. It’s harder to do a backside 180 than a backside 720 because on a backside 720 you can rotate all the way through and on a backside 180, you have to rotate really slowly and that’s way harder. It’s the same in the pipe, if you do an air to fakie that’s really hard – it’s maybe easier to do a frontside 720 because you have a lot of movement and a lot of rotation so you can cheat a little bit. With simple tricks, if you’re going big, you have to be on it. It’s about making a hard trick look easy and sometimes less is more.You’re respected by other riders as being one of the best all round snowboarders today; in the pipe, the park and in powder. What’s the recipe?I don’t consider myself that good – I think it’s a lot of practice, a lot of love and just doing it all the time, trying new things and never forgetting the fun.You might not think you’re that good but I know a lot of people who might say that you’re in fact snowboard deity. Xaver Hoffmann, for example. And what about the queue of kids who want your autograph at every contest you go to?I don’t see myself as an idol because I still have idols myself – like Terje Haakonson or Peter Line. They’re just the biggest in snowboarding; they’re just so radical, that you try to be like them. I don’t really see myself in the same position, although I do have to give a lot of autographs and interviews, and I do have fans. I find it all a bit strange but I try to just be who I am and be a positive influence.What was it like for you to beat Terje at the Arctic Challenge in the Quarter Pipe?Great, I mean it was just a big show and the riders voted for it so I think it’s a great honour.What do you think of the events like the Arctic Challenge or the SB-Jam that focus more on progressive riding than results?I think it’s great because you push it way harder then you do in a contest.What’s it like seeing yourself in snowboard magazines, especially when it’s dressed in metal studded leather and heavy-duty make-up?I don’t have a favourite photo but I do think the one of me as myself opposite me dressed as Gene Simmons is pretty cool. Being in snowboard mags means a lot to me because when the kids see you at a contest, your run takes about 30 seconds and then it’s over. But in the mags, they can look at your tricks over and over, and then learn something from it. Because of that, being in a magazine has a big value in the scene because although it’s not forever, it’s around for a lot longer than you are at a contest.It’s the same with film, except you can rewind the whole trick. Which videos have you been in?I had parts in Marco Lutz’s