Graham Watanabe

I like interesting stories about athletes. This may be one you remember. Snowboardcrosser (is that what thye call themselves?) Graham Watanabe did not make the Torino Olympics team, but he paid his way to Italy, anyway, working as an assistant wax technician. Then Jayson Hale tore his ACL, and Graham stepped up and took his place. Of course, in the Hollywood version he’d have gone on to win gold, but in real life he finished 31st. Still, not bad for a guy who was supposed to be waxing snowboards.

This year, he’ll be back as part of the team. He’s one of four athletes representing the U.S. in snowboard cross. Hopefully, he’ll do better than 31st this year.

Here’s a video from 2008 of three of the four U.S. snowboard cross athletes.