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BEIJING, China – When he was young, Max Parrot dreamed of “travelling, snowboarding, earning money and not having to go to school”, he said with a laugh.

He is now a three-time Olympic medalist and he has revealed that he will soon be a father for the first time.

While waiting for its new life, Parrot completed its collection by winning bronze at the big jump on Tuesday at the Beijing Olympics.

The 27-year-old Bromontois collected 170.25 points for his two best of three jumps. The two scores also had to come from two different maneuvers.

The 17-year-old Chinese Su Yiming was imperial, he collected 182.50 points thanks to two jumps of 1800 degrees, with five rotations. Norwegian Mons Roisland just edged Parrot with 171.75 points.

Parrot, who defeated Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2019, triumphed at the slopestyle last week. He also won silver in the jump in 2018 at the PyeongChang Games.

“My dream at 15 was never to win a competition, I just wanted to make a living from my sport,” Parrot said. A few years later, I was champion at the X Games and I was going to the Olympics. Several years later, I was doing maneuvers that had never been done and I was making money in PyeongChang.

“I exceeded my dream by a lot. This week, with gold in slopestyle and bronze in long jump, I don’t know what to think. »

Parrot didn’t take the easiest route to bronze in the Shougang springboard final.

He crashed on his first five-rotation jump attempt before earning a second-best 94.00 of the day on his second attempt.

Since Su already had an almost insurmountable lead at the start of the third round, Parrot decided to take a more cautious leap to secure a podium.

“My second 1800, I only managed it half the time in training,” explained Parrot. My goal was to land my first jump and then have two chances to land my second. Unfortunately, I missed my first jump and only had a chance to land the second one.

“I did some calculations and I understood that with a 1620 (four and a half rotations), I had a good chance of a podium. So that’s the strategy I chose. My 1620, I hadn’t missed it once a week in training. I knew I was going to land it and secure a second medal. »

Parrot, however, received only 76.25 points for this jump, which he considers a severe score. The next seven riders were unable to beat his cumulative score.

The penultimate snowboarder to set off on the third run, Roisland finally pushed Parrot back one step on the podium.

Su was then treated to a final uneventful jump to the applause of Chinese supporters.

“It’s one of the biggest finals in the history of our sport,” said Parrot, as seven of the 12 finalists managed at least one five-rotation jump.

Canadians Mark McMorris and Darcy Sharpe were among those who weren’t able to pull off one. They finished 10th and 12th respectively.

Quebecer Sébastien Toutant, reigning Olympic champion in the event, did not participate in the final due to an injury which prevented him from qualifying. He still encouraged his teammates from the stands.

No controversy

Unlike the competition of slopestylethere were no controversies regarding the scores during the big jump.

A specialized site had noted that Parrot had received points for a plank grip that he had not succeeded during his slopestyle gold descent. McMorris then claimed he should have been the winner, before apologizing to Parrot.

The Quebecer stressed Monday that there was no cold between him and the Saskatchewanian. He recalled Tuesday that the work of the judges was not easy.

“It’s a judged sport. It’s not the first time this has happened. Sometimes decisions go in your favor, sometimes not,” Parrot pointed out, noting that he, too, once thought he deserved a better fate in a competition.

Su had taken second place in slopestyle. Parrot said the young Chinese told him at the bottom of the springboard on Tuesday that he had fully deserved his gold medal.

Parrot also had good words for the local favourite.

“He told me that I had pushed him to improve in recent years. I was happy. But I told him that he was the one who was going to push me now,” Parrot exclaimed.

In the meantime, Parrot will have to take care of another youngster, his own, while he and his wife are expecting a boy in the coming months.

“I am very happy about that. I will focus on that over the next few weeks. But snowboarding is my passion. It’s not over, but I’ll put that aside for a bit, ”he concluded.