{"id":26331,"date":"2020-04-09T18:42:40","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T22:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=26331"},"modified":"2020-04-09T18:42:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T22:42:47","slug":"postponing-the-olympics-was-the-right-call-says-local-olympic-snowboarder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/postponing-the-olympics-was-the-right-call-says-local-olympic-snowboarder\/","title":{"rendered":"Postponing the Olympics was the right call, says local Olympic snowboarder"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In this time of quarantine, there is only so much that we\ncan do. Eat, sleep, watch television, or go for walks? It\u2019s happening to all of\nus. Even the Olympic athletes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora native and Canadian Olympic snowboarder Derek\nLivingston has been watching Netflix, baking sweets with his girlfriend,\nexercising and walking the dog to keep busy. It all looked so different several\nmonths ago, when he was on the top of a mountain, prepared to tip the snowboard\nfrom a flat surface on to a thin sheet of snow, with a heck of a view in front\nof him on the way down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had just finished in seventh place in the World Cup in\nFebruary in Calgary before all sports came to a standstill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although he is not supposed to be a part of the summer\nOlympics this year, Livingston believes it was the right call to postpone the\ncompetition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He told The Auroran from his home in Whistler, British\nColumbia, \u201cIt\u2019s a great call and I think that\u2019s going to build a lot. It\u2019s\ngoing to build a lot of the hype leading into the Winter Olympics and, I think,\nthat\u2019s going to bring all the media attention in one year. I think it\u2019s going\nto bring a lot more eyes to every sport, especially with this going on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Born in Scarborough, Livingston\u2019s family moved to Aurora when\nhe was young. The children were sharing rooms in their home in Scarborough, so\nthe family decided it was time for a change, seeking a larger space for\neveryone to live comfortably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was at the age of eight that Livingston and his brother opened\ntheir Christmas gifts to find a snowboard packaged inside. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know what snowboarding was,\u201d said Livingston.\n\u201cThat\u2019s a funny question, because, I\u2019ve never really asked them, \u2018why did you\nbuy us a snowboard?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seemingly, mom and dad\u2019s intuition paid dividends.\nLivingston\u2019s father was into skiing, but he knew how to teach snowboarding to\nhis boys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until the spring when Livingston and his brother\nwent out on the board to practice. The next winter, his parents signed him up\nfor combo classes; a fusion between skiing and snowboarding, at the Alpine Ski\nClub. The family, including his grandparents and his cousins, were all members\nthere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Livingston found a group of other riders that were\ninterested in getting better. All of a sudden, snowboarding became fun. He\nbecame more and more competitive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between the ages of nine and 10, Livingston quit skiing\npermanently. He joined the Interclub Freestyle Program at the Alpine Ski Club,\ntravelling to other resorts in the area and riding in competitions all around\nCollingwood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the start of something special. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Livingston began taking on freestyle competitions as far\nback as 14-years-old. Along with his brother in his teenage years, Livingston\nhelped lead the Aurora High School Snowboarding team to multiple Ontario\nFederation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2009, Livingston continued to compete in an immense\namount of competitions. He says, he never really finished in podium positions\ntoo much, but ranking in the top five at the NorAm circuit in 2009 and\ncompeting in Cypress Mountain in B.C and Stoneham in Quebec, earned Livingston\nand four other riders an opportunity to compete for the national team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was big; it was my coach, Jesse Fulton, who definitely\nmade the national team recognize us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even bigger was the chance to make the Olympics in Vancouver\n2010. Unfortunately, he missed the cut. However, he never felt shy to enter\nmore competitions. He seized the opportunity and knew the Olympics was a hairbreadth\naway.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With another three years of training and FIS Snowboard Championships,\nhe was close. One more qualifier to go before the Olympics and Livingston broke\nhis collarbone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After riding at Stoneham in the same month, Livingston had\nqualified for the Sochi Olympics with a few screws and a plate inside of him.\nThe doctor said if he fell the wrong way, he could take the screws right out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He claimed this added to the nervousness he felt in Sochi\naside from the gravity of the competition, with numerous eyes and camera lenses\naimed at him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always get nervous butterflies in my stomach and I feel,\nif you\u2019re not nervous, you don\u2019t feel really in the zone. You\u2019re not present,\nyou\u2019re not ready for this event if you\u2019re not feeling nervous,\u201d he shared. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He finished in 19th<\/sup> place, best amongst all\nCanadian riders and one spot shy of the semifinals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following another four years in preparation for the Winter\nOlympics in Pyeongchang, he was ensconced beneath the cameras and the coverage.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was nothing that was going to faze Livingston anymore\nand no broken bones either. He finished 17th<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was feeling healthy, I was strong, I was confident and\nhad learned a few tricks I had.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it showed in my first run I landed a really solid\nrun. One of the better runs I\u2019ve ever put down. And then, for my second run, I\njust wanted to go bigger and get more air and clean everything up. But, unfortunately,\nI think I went a little too big and wasn\u2019t able to land my second run.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading up to this year, Livingston had strung together an\nimpressive run of top finishes, including a third-place finish in the Halfpipe\nWorld Cup at Mammoth Mountain Resort in the United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, his sights are set for Beijing 2022 while currently\nrecovering from a foot injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got my eyes set on learning some new tricks, getting\nstronger, getting back to snowboarding 100 per cent and start qualifications. For\nthe Olympics and the next season coming, I\u2019m hoping to go to Beijing.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now 29, Livingston is only thinking about\nBeijing. Once 2022 is finished, there is a lot he wants to consider. Amongst\nthose options is giving back to the game, possibly becoming a coach. Only time\nwill tell what he desires when the moment presents itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With regard to snowboarding in Canada, Livingston says there\nis so much we can do. Especially in schools. As a former OFSAA champion,\nschools can promote the sport and there are plenty of locations across Ontario\nto host competitions. The problem is the cost. It\u2019s not cheap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, what I feel like what a lot of those schools should do\nis reach out to those resorts and make a program where people can go away once\na month or every two weeks and join the snowboard club.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went on to add, that it doesn\u2019t have to be within schools. He wants to see snowboarding grow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Robert Belardi <\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this time of quarantine, there is only so much that we can do. Eat, sleep, watch television, or go for walks? It\u2019s happening to all of us. Even the Olympic athletes. Aurora native and Canadian Olympic snowboarder Derek Livingston has been watching Netflix, baking sweets with his girlfriend, exercising and walking the dog to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/2020-04-09-04.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-6QH","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-13 15:27:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}