Athlete Bios
Snowboarding
Anderson looks to make his last Olympics his best
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 5:03 PM ET
New York Times for CBC Sports
Olympic snowboarder Jasey-Jay Anderson, 34, is married with two children. (Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)Jasey-Jay Anderson is hoping to end a long, fruitful snowboarding career by retiring to his blueberry farm after the biggest victory of his life.
The 34-year-old from Montreal, who has six overall World Cup championships across two disciplines, has been called the best snowboarder in Canadian history, the leader of a talent pool that runs surprisingly shallow compared with that of the United States.
Anderson, who competed in 1998 when snowboarding was first added to the Olympic program, may still represent Canada's best chance for a snowboarding medal in Vancouver.
When he is not snowboarding - which is not often, given the year-round, global nature of the sport - Anderson and his wife run a blueberry farm and tend to their two young daughters in Mont Tremblant, Que.
He sees the Vancouver Games as a chance to put the ultimate exclamation point on his career. He is a four-time overall World Cup champion in parallel giant slalom, where competitors race side-by-side through gates. He is a two-time overall World Cup champion in snowboard cross, where competitors race for the bottom, four at a time, in a sport that invites incidental contact. He finished fifth in snowboard cross at the 2006 Turin Games.
But Anderson is expected to focus exclusively on parallel giant slalom in Vancouver. He won the world championship in that event last season, and also won the season's final event for his 24th career victory.
In three previous Olympics, Anderson has not finished higher than 16th in the giant slalom. His first try, in 1998, is best known as the event in which fellow Canadian Ross Rebagliati won the gold medal, only to have it temporarily stripped after he tested positive for marijuana.
Canada is hoping the home-country advantage will help Anderson find success in his fourth try at an Olympic medal.
