REBAGLIATI'S MEDAL AND VOICE HEAD TO OLYMPICS, BUT CHAMP STAYS HOME

Former Olympian Ross Rebagliati's gold medal is on display at the
Canadian Olympic pavilion in Salt Lake City and his voice will be
heard at the snowboarding events welcoming people to the 2004 Winter
Games.

But Rebagliati will not be in Utah or anywhere in the U.S. for the
next year after a customs officer last week barred him from entering
the country.

Rebagliati said the officer told him a note has been entered on the
customs computer system identifying him by name and face as a person
who is barred entry.

"He told me it was because I had admitted using marijuana,"
Rebagliati said Sunday.

Rebagliati, 30, who won the Olympics' first snowboarding event, had
his medal taken away in Nagano, Japan after trace amounts of cannabis
were found in his system.

He said the test must have detected second-hand marijuana from a
farewell party he attended before going to the Olympics. Later, after
his return to Canada with the medal, Rebagliati said he had used
marijuana years ago, but stopped when he first tried to join the
national team.

"I've gone down to the states [since the Nagano Olympics] dozens of
times and this has never happened before," he said. "Most people
recognize me and wish me well, but this officer decided not to use as
much discretion as they had in the past."

Rebagliati said he understands that heightened security since the
terrorist attacks has affected the borders, but it hasn't affected
him until now. Just last week, Rebagliati returned from Palm Springs
after visiting his mother.

"I just got unlucky with this one officer. Now they say if I want to
go to the U.S., I have to get a special waiver and that could take
eight to 10 months."

Now living in Whistler and studying for his real-estate licence,
Rebagliati was stopped Jan. 27 as he tried to board a flight to Las
Vegas. He was to attend a trade exhibition show for his sponsor,
Vancouver-based Arc-Teryx, a snowboard and ski clothing manufacturer.
In Las Vegas, Rebagliati was also to sell a painting with the
proceeds to go for funding amateur snowboarders.

After the Las Vegas trip, Rebagliati was planning to return to
Canada, and this week load up his camper and drive down to Salt Lake
City to attend Olympic events.

His gold medal cleared customs last week for display at the Canadian
Olympic pavilion and a voice-recording Rebagliati made will be played
over loudspeakers at the snowboard event.

"It's a little strange that my medal and my voice will be there, but
I won't be. I'll watch it on TV instead. It's another chapter in my
life of fortune and misfortunes."

Rebagliati has had his ups and downs since the last Olympics.
Believing he would make a lot of money from endorsements and
sponsors, he followed up his gold medal by buying a lakefront
property.

When the money didn't come through, he was forced to sell it. But he
sold it for a profit.

An engagement also fell through, but Rebagliati said he's been seeing
new girlfriend Jennifer Friesen for two years.

"I'm taking things slow and making sure that things are done right,"
he said. "A few times in my life, things were done more quickly than
I should have let them, but I want to enjoy everything and make the
right decisions."

Rebagliati said even though he still enjoys a high profile in his
hometown of Whistler, he was surprised at the support of the
community after people learned that he was barred from the U.S..

"I think it's ridiculous," said Whistler Councillor Ken Melamed, who
was among the crowd of people who welcomed Rebagliati home after his
gold medal performance at the 1998 Winter Olympics.

"I think the Americans have a ridiculous over-reaction. Their drug
policy has clearly failed."

Snowboarder Richard Hill, of Australia, said he can't understand why
the U.S. customs denied Rebagliati entry when others have crossed the
border who have admitted use of marijuana.

"Didn't Bill Clinton say he had used marijuana?" Hill asked. "It
seems like the U.S. have a lot more to worry about than Ross
Rebagliati."

J.S. Bidal of the Canadian Snowboard Federation said Rebagliati's
"past or what he's done in the past, to me, is in the past, and now
he's just trying to move on like a regular citizen.

"It's unfortunate that circumstances like that arise."

No representatives of the U.S. Customs office were available for
comment Sunday.

The Canadian Olympic Association declined comment on the controversy
Sunday. "It all has to do with U.S. Customs, and we were not involved
at all," said association spokeswoman Helene Lapointe. "It's
unfortunate."

But Lapointe said the association has to devote its energies to
assisting team members now.

"There's a million other people that are around the team that are
trying to get through and go through their own hurdles. We
unfortunately have to focus on our own team to make sure that the
athletes are going to be okay."