BEIJING, China — U.S. snowboarder Julia Marino said on social media that she dropped out of the Winter Olympics big air competition partly because the International Olympic Committee told her to cover the Prada logo on her board with marker.
Marino, 24, who's from Connecticut and trains in Breckenridge, got a silver medal in women's slopestyle – the first U.S. medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics – on her Prada snowboard. She planned to compete in big air on Monday and Tuesday but dropped out before the event started.
The word was that Marino didn't compete due to an injury she sustained in practice. She said on Instagram that while the injury played a part in her decision, it wasn't the only factor.
"For everyone asking, the night before the big air comp, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) told me they no longer approved my board, even tho they had approved it for slope," she wrote. "They told me I would be disqualified if I didn't cover the logo and obligated me to literally draw on the base of my board with sharpie."
She went on to say that the base of the board is important to speed and not meant to have anything on it but wax.
"Having marker and other things on the bottom basically defeats the purpose," she wrote.
That left Jamie Anderson and Hailey Langland to compete in big air for Team USA. Anderson wiped out on her first two jumps in qualifying and didn't make the finals, and Langland placed 12th in the medal round.
"I was super hyped with how I did in slope, my main event, and decided not to risk further injury even tho that didn't appear to be the top priority of the IOC," Marino wrote on Instagram.
The IOC said her board's branding violated Olympic advertising rules because Prada is not a sporting-goods company. It said it became aware of the issue after Marino competed in slopestyle and sought a "solution with minimal impact."
Read the IOC's full statement below:
"The IOC understands the athlete unfortunately fell during practice on Friday and couldn’t compete in the competition on Monday. There had been no changes to the equipment or branding when she fell on Friday.
"Regarding the branding of the snowboard, the athlete was competing with a snowboard with branding of a company that doesn’t primarily have its business in sporting goods, contrary to Olympic advertising rules that protect the funding of the Olympic Movement. The sports equipment would normally be approved by the relevant NOC in the first instance, and subsequently by the IF just before it enters the field of play. The IOC became aware of the issue after the athlete had competed, and together with the USOPC a solution with minimal impact was sought including the possibility of keeping the same equipment and removing the branding."
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