Mark McMorris needs a lozenge.
Since winning Canada’s first medal of the Olympic Games, the snowboarder from our flattest province has been doing media nonstop, 23 hours worth of interviews and appearances in the last two days alone. As long as he’s not sneezing, his broken rib feels much better than it did on Sochi’s opening day, when he fell in both his first run of semifinal qualifiers and his first run of finals. But his voice is shot from talking about the slopestyle bronze medal that should’ve been two shades more glorious. So he’s grateful when someone brings him a candy to pop into his mouth.
This interview will be one of his last, thank goodness. Then the 20-year-old will fly somewhere cold and escape all the post-Olympic madness before zeroing in on his next contest, the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships on March 3. The kid they now call McRib was only available in Russia for a limited time; he left the Olympics well before the Closing Ceremony so he could get back on his board.
Imagine a bobsleigh champ hopping the next plane so he could go hurtling down some other track for fun, or Patrick Chan aching to go find a clean sheet of Alaskan ice to triple-axle on moments after competition. The dedication is similar, but the love of snowboarding is what separates McMorris and so many of his peers from the rest. Enough with doing the medal rounds. Dude just wants to go snowboarding.
Sportsnet.ca: Take me back to when you broke your rib at X Games. How soon did the Olympic implications of your injury pop into mind?
Mark McMorris: I thought about it as soon as I hit the rail and I was laying there: I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. I didn’t know. When I was in the hospital, it’s not the pain that was frustrating, it was the fact that I didn’t want [to miss Sochi] at all. It was a freak accident. It should’ve never happened. I thought I wouldn’t be able to go to the Olympics anymore, so it was pretty devastating. When we found out that my rib was broken, they didn’t tell me yes or no if I could go. We had a meeting later that night. They finally told me I could go, and I was so happy. I was just like, “Please, let me go. I don’t care if I’ll be in the most pain ever. I just want to give it a shot.” So much work has gone in for me to get to the Olympics, it’s unbelievable.
What specifically can you do to repair a broken rib?
We flew straight to Austria with my physiotherapist and doctor, and we were in the pool for two hours a day doing water aerobics and tons of acupuncture, tons of physio, tons of mobility and strengthening—everything we could do. We’d push it to the limit every single day to get more range of motion. I learned how to start taking impact. You can do as much as you want, but [the Olympics] is still 10 days after you broke your rib. It’s going to be painful. They got me to the best I could be. It’s crazy. If everybody had that treatment, you could come back from injuries so quickly. That’s why you see hockey players—something terrible will happen, and they’ll be back in a month. It was really nice to have that support.
What did you do for the pain? Were you on painkillers?
No, you can’t at the Olympics. You just deal with it.
What specific motion causes the most pain while riding?
The impacts. The landings were just awww! [grabs rib] It wasn’t so painful that I’d fall over, but it was definitely ow.
So are you thinking about the impact as you’re going off the jump?
You do everything in your power not to think about it, but it’s hard. A lot of people say it’s 50 percent getting [physically] healthy from an injury and the other 50 percent is getting mentally healthy from it. It’s scary when you start riding again. All you can think about is hurting it. They just helped me get in a mind spot where I could just focus on my snowboarding. That was the goal—to not be in pain and just snowboard. Not aggravating pain to the point where I’d fall over.
Did you speak to a sports psychologist?
No. I have good people around me, and I can deal with high-pressure situations pretty well.
The first day of slopestyle practice in Sochi, you didn’t even ride the course, correct?
Yeah, I went and took two runs just around the mountain, and I was terrible. You’ve been living for a couple days, so you get used to the pain while living, and your body is used to anticipating pain. But when you get on a snowboard, it’s all these new movements: “Ow, why does it hurt when I do that?” I was super bummed out. The next day you get on your snowboard and you’re ready for it: It’s gonna hurt there. Just mentally training your body to know what’s coming. The improvement every single day was so great.
You placed seventh in qualifying and described the judging as “ridiculous.” Was there more pressure to ride your way into the finals or to stomp that final run?
I didn’t feel anything like in my last run in semifinals, in my last run in finals. It was two different things. It was the pressure of, I need to make this final. So I have no regrets – I can just go for it. And the fact that if I didn’t make the final – and on qualification day, I probably should’ve made it straight to the final with the run I did – it would’ve been a heartbreaker. Dropping in for the last run of finals, it was more like: I know I can do this. I know I have a run that’ll put me on the podium. Let’s just land it. I know I’ve done everything I can. I have zero regrets. I’ve worked my ass off to get here. I can do the run. Now, let’s go do it.
So you weren’t nervous?
For sure you’re nervous. It’s the Olympic final! I had been through every kind of nerve you could go through in those two weeks.
What do you say to fans who think it’s ridiculous that you weren’t awarded a gold medal with the run you landed and the fact that gold medal winner Sage Kostenberg dragged his hand on one of his landings?
I’ve got a lot of feedback on that. All you can do is be stoked that I landed a run that’s never been done in slopestyle before. I’ve never done it, and I did it with what I went through, so I’m really happy for that. The rest is totally out of my hands. I did everything I wanted to do for myself. I can’t control the other side. It’s a judged sport, and that’s the way it goes sometimes. You just look at the positives and be stocked on what you did. The judges make their choices.
Does part of you say, “Well, if I knew landing two triple corks wasn’t good enough for gold, maybe I would’ve changed my run accordingly”? Do you wish you knew what the judges wanted in a gold-medal run?
Yeah… I haven’t really thought back to that, and I don’t plan on doing that. I did a run that hadn’t been done, and it was huge for me. Maybe at any other given contest, it probably would’ve won. It’s just… I don’t know… snowboarding, judges, who knows? It’s a different panel at the Olympics than at most events. You never know what they’re looking for, but what I did at the Olympics for myself was just as much worth of a gold in my mind. The response I’ve got has been insane.
Who has reached out to you since the medal that surprised you?
Stephen Harper tweeted at me, which was kinda cool. The Prime Minister of Canada. That was like, whoa, everybody is watching. I went to the Raptors game the other night, and the coach was in the full-blown media [scrum] after the game, and I walked by and he stopped and gave me a big high-five. The GM said, “Thanks so much for coming.” It’s so surreal. A standing ovation at the Raptors game. Some crazy stuff happens from it. You don’t realize the magnitude of the Olympics until you leave the Olympics.
Congratulations to @MarkMcmorris for making Canada proud by winning our first medal at #sochi2014! #wearewinter
— Stephen Harper (@pmharper) February 8, 2014
Does it make you think about four years from now?
Everybody’s been asking me. I try not to think about it too much. It’ll just build and build and build, and two years from now we’ll be right where we were two years ago—getting ready and making plans. It’ll ramp up again. We’re really lucky as snowboarders. We have great careers, great lifestyles with or without the Olympics. The Olympics are just icing on the cake. I’ll just try to get back to normal life, and when the Olympics come around, things get more intense.
What’s the next logical step of progression after stomping two triple corks? What will you try next?
Progression, you can’t see where it’s coming. I just need to get out on my snowboard and start making it. I don’t think of something like, “OK, I’m going to get out there and do this today.” It’s more like you’re riding with your friends, and you need a good environment, the perfect jumps, and then you start shaping the future. You can’t plan it, but I think everything progresses whether you like it to or not. It’s going to go in a way the snowboarders shape it. We’re so lucky. In the aerials, say, they’re just going to do another flip or another spin. But we have so many different characters in our sport. Sage is going to do something crazy different, and then I’ll do something from him, and Seb [Toutant] will go do that. It’s so diverse. There’s so many different sides. It’s going to go in a direction I can’t predict, but it will happen.
Who inspires you in terms of style?
I don’t know if the public will know these names because they don’t do contests, but Hiro [Austin Hironaka], Terje Haakonsen, Travis Rice in the backcountry, Jake Blauvelt… there’s a bunch of guys that inspire me. I think riding with friends inspires you. You get inspired to do things because you’re feeding off each other. I’m getting excited to snowboard now, with all this talk. This year I did the least amount of snowboarding I’ve ever done. I bruised my heels and didn’t snowboard all summer. I started riding and did the Dew Tour and got caught in terrible weather for two weeks straight, rode a little bit, went to X-Games, hurt my rib and didn’t ride, then did the Olympics. Everybody is wondering if I’m going on a hot vacation. No. I want to shred. I’m so fired up to go riding.
Where in the world would you like to ride that you haven’t yet?
Alaska. I can’t wait to go there. That’ll be a unique experience. I get so caught up in riding so much park and competing, I remember the first time I went to Supernatural and got my ass handed to me. It was like, “Whoa… I’m going to love snowboarding for a long time. I’ll never get burnt out. There is so much to learn.” It was almost like I started snowboarding again when I went to Supernatural. There’s so many different angles and refreshments you can drop into, and it’s all under the same roof of snowboarding.
The mainstream media made a big deal of Shaun White not making the halfpipe podium and played it up as an end of an era. White is only 27, and he’s old for his sport. Do you think about how there’s a smaller window for competition for snowboarders as opposed to, say, hockey players?
The youth love what we do. That’s where all the attention is focused. You can really make your mark in a shorter amount of time than if you were playing hockey forever. I love both sports. For sure snowboarding is shorter, but you can do amazing things in our realm of action sports.
You quit hockey as a kid to take up snowboarding. Do you ever play shinny?
Yeah, man. My toe is black. That’s another injury I dealt with. I went home at Christmas and played hockey with my buddies at the outdoor rink and it was minus-40. I froze my toe, and I almost had a mental breakdown there because I thought I was going to have to get it cut off. The big toe on my right foot turned completely black. It’s just healing now, and that was at Christmas. The amount of weird injuries I’ve had… I bruised my heels — that took three months to heal. When I froze my toe, I had my fundraiser the next night in Regina, and it was so swollen, and I had to take a bunch of Tylenol and ram it into my dress shoe. It was the worst. A lot of funny stories I’ll have to tell. We have so much fun in what we do. No day is the same, no year is the same. You go to some of the same places, but it’s not like a hockey schedule.
What hurt more, the frostbite or the rib?
The frostbite, for sure. I had to go to the hospital, and under doctor’s orders, soak my foot in lukewarm water for three and a half hours. There was way to get comfortable. This was in the middle of the night. Two of my buddies got it too; there were three of us. Still, I have to ride with heat packs in my boot to keep my toe warm. The nail is still black, and it will never be the same. It’ll get cold faster.
Who do you root for in hockey?
We don’t have a hockey team in Saskatchewan, so I root for all the Canadian teams, minus Montreal Canadiens – just because that’s my brother’s favourite team. Nah, I like some players on the Montreal Canadiens. Probably the Toronto Maple Leafs because a couple of my buddies play on the team.
Who?
Tyler Bozak. He’s from my hometown. I will start cheering for Winnipeg soon because my best, best friend, J.C. Lipon, got drafted to Winnipeg this year. He’s playing in St. John’s for the farm team now, but he’ll probably be playing there pretty quick. He’s had a really good season with the [AHL] team. It’s cool to see my buddies playing the NHL.
congrats to @markmcmorris taking home a bronze medal at the Olympics, with a broken rib. #grinder
— JC Lipon (@Jgator34) February 8, 2014
But you weren’t tempted to stick around Sochi and watch Team Canada?
I was, but I couldn’t wait two weeks. Two weeks in Russia was enough already. I was excited to be back in Canada.
Why is that?
Just to see everybody. There was so much excitement. I’d just won a medal. What? Am I gonna hang out there and just watch events? I wanted to get here and do the media tour done while it’s still fresh and exciting. And get that done so I can do cooler stuff. Like I said, I’m really fired up to go snowboarding.
Anything you want to let the fans know?
Thank you to all of them, especially the ones that have been there for four or five years. I love hearing them: “I knew Mark before you!” Thanks to all my long-term fans who’ve been there since Day One, and all the new ones. It’s so cool to have a different demographic of fans. Older dudes in suits at the Ritz, like, “Hey, nice work.” You really realize the magnitude of the Olympics. I was on the plane taking photos with all the pilots. They were like, “Hey, check out the cockpit. You fly the plane! I’m getting a photo with him!” Thank you, Canada.