The ‘omen from the shred gods’ that was destined to be a false prophet

Source : ABC NEWS

Valentino Guseli said he thought a wire snapping in the closing stages of Scotty James’s last run at the Winter Olympic halfpipe final was “a sign from the shred gods” that his teammate was going to claim an elusive gold.

As James entered the final two hits of his erstwhile perfect third and final run in Friday’s final, fans were shocked to see one of several cables holding the suspended camera above the pipe snap.

The broken cable flew back into the crowd where it made contact with some spectators, while officials scrambled to clear space under the camera when it came to rest above the main observation area at the base of the pipe.

The IOC has been contacted for comment.

James said that he had not been aware of the incident and could not blame missing the landing on his final hit, an attempted backside double cork 1620 Japan grab on the cable distracting him — although playfully suggested that he should have.

James fell agonisingly short of the gold medal that he desperately hoped to achieve, but Guseli said that a dramatic moment during the 31-year-old’s final run made him think that destiny was truly on his side.

“You know what was crazy? Did you see the wire that broke?” Guseli said.

“I thought that was some kind of like omen from the shred gods, you know, he was riding that pipe, he was tearing it apart, like that was from the shred gods saying, ‘we’re with you Scotty,’ while he was in the pipe.

“It was like the craziest thing that’s ever happened.

“I guess they weren’t with him, because he didn’t.” 

Guseli had finished in fifth spot in a fiercely contested final won by Yuto Totsuka on Friday night in front of a packed crowd at the Livigno Snow Park.

However, the 20-year-old missed out on landing his first two runs and was sitting in last place as he dropped in for the third and final time.

Fortunately for the triple-threat board rider, Guseli nailed his final run to claim a score of 88.00 and his best result in an Olympic final to date.

“Well, on the first two runs I sucked,” Guseli said, his characteristic grin beaming from his face.

“But I landed my last one and I got one place better than I did in the last Olympics.

“So we’re going up, which is cool.”

Guseli said the competition standard was “insane”.

“Oh, it was huge. It was the biggest comp of all time,” he said.

But he still felt that if he had completed the run that he felt he was capable of, he could have won it.

“Going into it, I believed that if I did my best snowboarding then I could have won,” Guseli said.

“I still believe if I did my best snowboarding I could have won.

“But I just didn’t, and that’s the nature of the game. It sucks to suck, I guess.”

Guseli said the level of the competition and the added pressure of an Olympic Games was such that everyone was going to struggle, with the person who dealt with it best likely to come out on top.

“I definitely think I could have ridden better,” Guseli said, “but dealing with the pressure of the Olympics, and especially finals… you know, it’s crazy.

“Yesterday I watched the girls and was surprised with how many crashes there were.

“There was stuff that I’ve seen those girls do really consistently and then on that night they couldn’t really get it.

“And then today, I understood why.

“That kind of finals pressure in the Olympics is massive and I think everyone felt it a little bit.

“Yuto managed to feel it the least and put down the best run, which is great for him.”

Despite being gutted for James, Guseli noted that his superstar teammate’s second place finish did offer a potential silver lining.

“Unfortunately for Scotty he didn’t get the W that everyone was expecting and hoping for,” Guseli said.

“But it might keep him in the sport a bit longer, so that’ll be cool.”