USA news on Youtube Feb 17 2018

It might be one of the most popular Winter Olympic sports

around, attracting throngs of cowbell-ringing fans

everywhere it goes.

But did you know that snowboarding was actually

banned by most ski resorts until the 1980s?

All right. Chill out, mate.

Chill out. It's a ski resort. Oh...

So how did snowboarding go from the bad boy of the slopes

to Olympic glory?

(BURNING QUESTIONS)

(HOW SNOWBOARDING CONQUERED THE WINTER OLYMPICS?)

(WINTER GAMES EDITION)

Even though snowboarding is a relatively young sport,

it has a colourful history.

Snowboarding made its Olympic debut in 1998 at Nagano.

Then, there were just two snowboarding events -

giant slalom and halfpipe.

In PyeongChang, there'll be five opportunities

to win medals for both men and women.

Perhaps the most eye-catching of these is the Big Air.

Brand new for PyeongChang, Big Air

is like the last jump in a slope-style course only bigger,

like much bigger.

The one in PyeongChang is 49 metres high.

To put that into context, that's about

as tall as Nelson's Column in London,

which is just a bit smaller than me.

So how does it work?

Boarders fly down a steep ramp that resembles a ski jump.

They then do one big trick as they fly off the jump.

From the moment they fly off the ramp,

the snowboarder has about 2.5 seconds

to impress the judges. That's not a lot of time.

There are not a lot of things you can do in 2.5 seconds,

but here are just some of them.

(BEE FLAPS WINGS 675 TIMES)

(26,125 CANS OF COKE CONSUMED)

(15 NEW HUMANS ARE BORN)

(102,500 FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATES)

(LIGHTNING WILL STRIKE 250 TIMES)

(250,000 CHEMICAL REACTIONS IN EVERY HUMAN CELL)

It's just a little bit less than the current

Rubik's Cube world record,

which currently stands at just over four seconds,

which I will demonstrate for you right now.

Nailed it.

So what are snowboarders thinking about

as they fly through the air with the greatest of ease?

And what are the physics behind pulling off a move like, say,

the triple cork 1620?

In order to execute 4.5 rotations,

all while flipping three times off axis,

the snowboarder requires incredible athletic powers.

But let's break it down even further.

On the approach, the athlete crouches

down low to pick up speed.

It's by increasing his velocity that he gets the biggest air.

As he hits the edge,

the athlete straightens his legs and angles

his upper body towards the tail end of his snowboard.

This initiates the rotation, since there's

no way to do this once he's in the air.

After the first spin, the rider tucks his body

into a ball to increase his angular momentum,

just like figure skaters tuck in their arms

into their bodies.

Around the third flip, the rider might crouch down

and grab the board to help maintain the rotational speed

even longer.

Straightening up for the final 1.5 spins

allows the athlete to slow down and start gauging the time left

until the landing.

And how do they nail that landing?

The answer is saccadic eye movements, obviously,

flicking his gaze over a few reference points

on the landing area.

As he lands, he actually starts looking

in the opposite direction of the spin,

which helps to pull him out of the rotation.

And, finally, to avoid landing on an edge,

the rider must ensure he stomps the landing.

You can certainly see why Big Air

is said to be one of the biggest events in PyeongChang.

But would snowboarding be so popular today if it still

had its original name?

Legend has it that snowboarding began in 1965

when Sherman Poppen - what a name! -

tied two skis together to make a toy

for his daughters.

The new game was dubbed "snurfing",

a hybrid of skiing and surfing.

And it quickly spread.

But perhaps the most famous snowboarder of them

all is actually not a real snowboarder at all.

Fictional super spy James Bond performed a snowboarding chase

in A View To A Kill.

And - sorry to break it to you - it wasn't really

Roger Moore doing the snowboarding.

It was legendary snowboarder Tom Sims,

who was his stunt double.

In fact, seeing James Bond on the snowboard

is credited with helping to popularize the sport

and help it break into the mainstream.

As James Bond would say, "You only live once."

For more infomation >> How Snowboarding Conquered The Winter Olympics | Burning Questions - Duration: 4:21.

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The Jamaican women's bobsled team needed a sled when its coach left. A beer company stepped up - Duration: 4:04.

The Jamaican women's bobsled team needed a sled when its coach left. A beer company stepped up

In just the nick of time, the Jamaican womens bobsled team appears to have secured a sled ahead of the groups Olympic debut.

And it comes with the help of Red Stripe.

A spokesperson for Heineken USA, which has Red Stripe as part of its portfolio, told CNN on Friday that the work is in progress to secure Jamaica a bobsled.

Were hopeful to have this finalized as quickly as possible, Bjorn Trowery said to CNN in an email.

We have been working with the Jamaica Bobsleigh Federation to get the final price, but the team will have their sled. Official training heats for womens bobsleigh start this weekend.

  Jamaicas quest for a sled became necessary following the departure of driving coach Sandra Kiriasis, though details differ between the former coach and the team on her exit.

On Wednesday, the Jamaican Bobsled Federation said that Kiriasis elected to leave the team.

However, in a Facebook post, Kiriasis claims she was told out of the blue that with immediate effect that she would no long hold the position of driving coach.

Kiriasis, who is German, added that she did not understand the reasons behind the decision of Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation and certainly will not allow to be used as the puppet on a string. Reports also surfaced Wednesday that Kiriasis would be taking Jamaicas sled with her.

Kiriasis said in her Facebook post that she rented a bobsled in Winterberg for the competition in Pyeongchang but did not directly address if she would be taking it back.

The Jamaican Bobsled Federation at the time told CNN Kiriasis does not own the sled and they do not anticipate any changes in our equipment or any impact on the Jamaican bobsled athletes performance at the Winter Olympic Games. On Thursday, the Jamaican beer company tweeted its support for the Jamaican womens bobsled team, saying, No bobsled, no problem.

If you need a new ride @Jambosled, put it on @RedStripes tab.

DM us and well be in touch. The team responded to Red Stripe asking to please make contact.

Later, Jamaican Bobsled media manager Kathleen Pulito tweeted, All set.

Thank you. In response to Red Stripe saying it has donated the Jamaican Bobsled team a sled to use in the Olympics, Pulito told CNN: We have no further comment on any media stories and are preparing our women to compete.

We will be on the hill tomorrow..