For
those of us that love to watch eXtreme snowboarding, Johan Olofsson is
the definition of a madman. He spits danger in the eye and conquers
insanity with his board.
[Listen, Learn and Inspire]
Name: Johan Olofsson
Birth: October 27, 1976, Scorpio
Job: Own company, snowboard, produce movies
Status: Single
Intrests: snowmobiles, fishing, composing music
Board: n/a
Movies: TB series, TGR Titon gravity research.
Website:
www.dreamexperience.com Bsta result: Rookie of the year, 1996
Nominated two times as Best Big Mountain Rider 2000-2002
Guiness World Record 1996: travelled on snowboard 3000 feet within 40 seconds.
I
met up with Johan in his hometown in Sweden. He usually travels back
and forth between there and his "other" hometown in Canada.
At
the moment, he is awaiting delicate surgery on his knee, due to
complications from an accident in September 2002. He failed to take
care of it at the time, and the following year, in April 2003, he
injured the same knee again at Riksgrnsen, between Sweden and Norway.
(For
everyone that would like to go skiing in Riksgrnsen: In May and June,
that is the happening place, if you love snow shorts and bikinis).
His
friends call him Swede, while his close buddies in the town where he
was born (rumor has it he came out on a board) call him Elof.
The private Elof has given following responses to my questions.
Girls: "Only on the weekends..look 'em in the eye."
Health: "My body has no stop signs."
Success:"Believe in your dream."
Drugs: "Don't do them. If you play with a knife, you get a knife."
[BB]
"My
main concern is that the outdoor business... Snowboarding...is more and
more a corporate hell hole. The ski federation took snowboarding over,
and made it TV clean by eliminating the nude runs and taking a leak in
the pipe. With this they banned a whole bunch of people who are now
coming back. Since only the nice boys were left, the exciting things
were missing. [This is] the establishment I always fought, and will
continue to do so!" He smiled.
We drove with the hobbits to
Dundret, the van blasting metal through the speakers. We stepped out,
and he dug into one pantpocket, then the other, and finally into all.
"Man,
I have lived out of a bag most of my life, traveling. I am so good at
losing stuff. Keys, wallets, five passports." He finally found his key
and smiled in relief.
He dropped out of school to study
snowboarding. He makes a successful living doing so, and just recently
purchased a house close to one of his favorite hills in Sweden. That
makes two. The other one is on his other favorite mountain, in Canada.
Like
all the other legends- Craig Kelley, Noah Salasnek, Farmer and Ranket-
they ban the establishment, and continue the underground scene of
snowboarding.
Needless to say, our discussions went until late
in the night. It went on for four days and four nights. Lots of
Bar-B-Q, music and chicks.
Johan is still the real thing!
Tags:
world Family Love time living School Business free