THE 'BOB MARLEY OF BOARDING'

WHISTLER, B.C. -- In his new book American snowboarder Chris Klug has
some harsh words for Whistler's Ross Rebagliati, calling him 'Bob
Marley on a snowboard.' Rebagliati won the first gold medal awarded in
snowboard when the sport made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Winter
Games in Nagano, Japan.

He later tested positive for marijuana and was stripped of the medal
before regaining it on appeal.

In his book To The Edge and Back, Klug recalls his frustration of
hearing about Rebagliati's positive drug test while eating at the
athlete's cafeteria in Nagano.

"After all the years of work and then putting up with the bullshit of
FIS politics in order to legitimize our sport as something other than
a playground for pot-heads and part-time athletes, in my eyes Ross had
literally just pissed it all away in his urine test," Klug wrote.

He also scoffs at Rebagliati's defence he tested positive because he
had inhaled second-hand marijuana smoke.

"Those of us who knew Ross rolled our eyes. He was practically Bob
Marley on a snowboard," Klug wrote.