WHISTLER'S REBAGLIATI BARRED FROM ENTERING U.S.

Escaping your past can be a difficult thing, especially if you happen
to be Olympic gold medalist and hometown hero Ross Rebagliati.

The 30-year-old Rebagliati was stopped, Jan. 27, by a United States
customs officer as he tried to board a flight to Las Vegas to attend
a trade show.

Rebagliati said the officer told him a note had been entered on the
customs computer system identifying him by name and face as a person
who is prohibited from entering the United States.

Rebagliati won the Olympics' first snowboarding event in 1998 at
Nagano, Japan, then had his medal taken away when trace amounts of
cannabis were found in his system.

He maintained that he had smoked marijuana in the past, but quit when
he first tried to join the national team. He blamed the trace amounts
in his system on second-hand marijuana smoke he was exposed to at a
farewell party he attended before going to the Olympics.

Eventually he was given back his gold medal, but that admission has
now come back to haunt him.

"I don't have a criminal record. What they've used against me, in
this particular case, is a news conference I had done in Japan, when
I was stating my case to the media, about how I had quit smoking to
get on the national team and to meet criteria," he said.

"It was that admission that I had stopped that basically is what this
guy was acting on."

Rebagliati has been to the United States several times since 1998,
but said he had never been refused entry.

"Since 1998, I have had a red flag on my passport for crossing into
the United States, so I have had to jump through some hoops each time
I go into the States, but they've always used what I've considered to
be reasonable discretion," he said. "

They were all familiar with my story, and who I was. They were
generally pleased to see me, and just doing their job, following
procedure. Usually they just apologize for delaying me, and
congratulate me from time to time."

He said he has gotten used to the occasional delay, but wasn't
expecting to be barr ed entry outright.

"I've come to accept that as a procedure I have to deal with when I
cross the border," he said. "It was a shock, at first, when I was
dealing with everything in 1998-'99, but this time was a little
different."

Now Rebagliati may have to wait up to 10 months to get into the U.S.

"That's what they say the average time is to get a waiver," he said.
"We are pursuing what's called a parole, which you can get quicker
than a waiver, but it's only good for a limited time, and you need
compelling business reasons for it to be granted."

He had intended to travel from Las Vegas to Utah to support his
country's new crop of Olympians.

"I do have compelling business reasons to be in Salt Lake City, with
my artwork I have on display there to raise money for the Canadian
National Development Snowboard Team," he said. "We were going to
boost that by being there and having it on display in the Canada
Olympic Lodge."

Ironically, Rebagliati's voice will be heard at the snowboarding
events in Salt Lake City, welcoming people to the 2002 Olympic Games,
and his medal will be on display at the Canadian Olympic Pavilion.

But the former Olympian is taking it all in stride. After all, he has
weathered this storm once before.

"In one way it's hampered the project and in another sense it has
brought a lot of attention to it, so as I like to say, everything
happens for a reason," he said. "It may seem negative at first, but
some good may come of it. It's just another part of my life that I'm
accepting and going to deal with one step at a time."

Since speaking with the Question, Rebagliati has learned he can go to
the Olympics in Salt Lake City next week, but only if he shows up at
the U.S. border with a doctor's note declaring him drug-free.

However, the snowboarder has opted not to go because, he said, he is
concerned about the negative publicity he will generate.