Ross Rebagliati listens to a reporter's question during a press conference in Vancouver in 2006. Rebagliati will run for the federal Liberal nomination in the Okanagan-Coquihalla riding, which is currently held by Conservative MP Stockwell Day. (Richard Lam/Canadian Press)

Canadian snowboarding gold medallist Ross Rebagliati is getting into politics.

He says he will seek the federal Liberal nomination to run against Conservative cabinet minister Stockwell Day in the B.C. riding of Okanagan-Coquihalla in the next general election.

"There wasn't going to be a candidate for this upcoming election representing the Liberal Party [in the riding]," Rebagliati told CBC News. "So, I felt like since I have such a great connection to that riding, I thought I'd step up."

Rebagliati, 38, retired from competition in 1999 and has been involved in real estate and broadcasting ventures since.

He and his wife live in Kelowna, B.C., with their five-month-old son.

Although this will be Rebagliati's first run at public office, he says he's no stranger to political issues.

He won the first Olympic gold medal in snowboarding at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, but lost his medal within days following allegations of marijuana doping. That finding was soon overturned and his medal was returned.

Day won handily in 2008

Rebagliati said he became more interested in politics through friendships with former B.C. Liberal MP Blair Wilson and former B.C. MLA Sindi Hawkins.

He said he expects to win the nomination uncontested. The Liberal candidate in the October 2008 election was Valerie Hallford.

Day, now minister of international trade in the Conservative government, won the seat with 58 per cent of the vote in the 2008 election, taking more ballots than all other candidates combined.

His closest opponent was the NDP candidate, who won less than 17 per cent. Hallford, the Liberal, finished fourth behind the Green Party with just under 12 per cent of the vote.

With files from The Canadian Press