A few days after his return to Quebec, with two medals from the Beijing Olympics around his neck, including one gold, snowboarder Maxence Parrot has still not come down from his cloud. And he intends to stay there.
On Saturday, the athlete from Estrie was passing through his hometown, Bromont, where the ski resort there honored him by renaming one of the trails on his mountain in his name.
“I don’t think I’ll come down from my cloud right away and I hope never to come down, claimed Parrot. To bring back a gold medal is really something extraordinary for me.
Several hundred sliding sports enthusiasts, also fans of the 27-year-old athlete, gathered at the foot of Mount Brome to cheer on Parrot. The latter had brought his golden medal, obtained in slopestyle, as well as that of bronze, collected in Big Air. These decorations were all the more special for the snowboarder who, three years earlier, was battling cancer at the best of his life.
Parrot thus spent almost two hours signing autographs and taking photos with the young and not so young who lined up. He hopes to be able to inspire the next generation of snowboarders who, just like him, may one day return from the Winter Olympics with a gold charm around their neck.
“I remember when I was young and going to regional competitions. It was me who went to the others to ask for signatures, Parrot said. To be the person who does the signatures and to be told that I inspire the world, it warms my heart.
“The one thing I want is for people to have fun on their skis and snowboards, because it’s a passion. I think it’s cool that there are so many young people. It’s going to be a great succession.”
Saddened by the war
Unlike many sports, the feeling of brotherhood is very strong in the world of winter sliding sports. Regardless of the nationality of the opponents, athletes are generally happy to see an opponent pull off difficult maneuvers.
The women’s Big Air final in Beijing was the perfect example of this, when the participants all threw themselves on the Austrian Anna Gasser, after her last jump, in order to hug her and congratulate her.
With this in mind, Parrot was very sad about the events currently taking place in Ukraine.
“I find it crazy that in 2022 there are still wars, said the representative of La Belle Province. It should be stories from the past and I think there are other ways to settle this kind of conflict there. I find it sad.”
“It would be fun if countries around the world were like snowboarding and holding hands instead of sending missiles to each other.”