“Lame,” “Garbage,” “Crappy” — Riders upset over the state of the Olympic halfpipe

Though the Olympic Halfpipe contest is just a day away from kicking off in Sochi, the riders getting ready to compete have made it crystal clear that the pipe is not up-to-par. With temps reaching the upper 50s Monday in Sochi, pipe conditions are far from favorable, with ‘sugary’ snow and bumps littering the bottom of the pipe.

Snowboarders have long questioned the blatant oversight of IOC and FIS officials in their choice to hire New Zealand based company Development Snowparks to build out the Olympic halfpipe as opposed to Snow Park Technologies (SPT), who has long been trusted with the construction of all major contest halfpipes.

Also see: The Olympic Issue: Terje Haakonsen Interview

As Yahoo Sports reports, Danny Davis didn’t mince words when expressing his issue with the halfpipe, stating, “The IOC probably didn’t want to pay the right guys to do it. I’m pretty sure what they’re focused on is keeping as much money in their hands as possible. That’s the shame of it all. All these kids, myself included, worked very hard to get here. And then the pipe is just no fun and boring and [expletive]. Halfpipe is super fun. But riding a crappy pipe and having to perform in it is the worst.”

Words like “lame,” “crappy,” “garbage” and “unsalvageable” have been used by the halfpipe riders themselves to describe the state of the pipe, taking to social media per usual to relate their dissatisfaction: