The “brotherly love” narrative is one that is not uncommon among Canadian Olympic athletes. Broadcasters are constantly outlining the unbreakable bond that can only be formed by blood relations. In Vancouver, Canadians were immensely inspired by Alexandre Bilodeau and his brother Frederick, who has cerebral palsy. As a result of his condition, Frederick was told that he would lose his ability to walk early in his life. However, at 28, he was walking at the moment his brother won the first Canadian Gold Medal on home soil. Meanwhile, brothers Charles and Francois Hamelin were making plenty of headlines for Canada in speedskating.
But the McMorris brothers have a very different Olympic story. The younger McMorris, Mark, is among the world’s best snowboarders. He is one of Canada’s most recognizable athletes, and is a favourite to bring home Gold in the first Olympic edition of slopestyle snowboarding. Meanwhile, his older brother Craig will be up in the broadcast booth as a snowboarding analyst for the CBC.
While Mark and the rest of his field of competition impress the world with their athleticism, Craig will be explaining the intricacies of the debuting Olympic sport to a national audience. But, despite the fact that he will be covering his brother’s quest for Gold, the elder McMorris insists that he will not demonstrate any bias.
“I just have to be professional,” McMorris tells Last Word On Sports.
McMorris was selected by the CBC for two reasons: his vibrant and outgoing personality and his own experience as a snowboarder. Craig is also a member of the Canadian team and has had plenty of success at World Cup events. But, for an incredibly deep Canadian snowboarding there were only so many spots available on the Sochi Olympic team. While McMorris would prefer to join his brother in representing Canada on the slopes of Russia, he is still very excited for the games.
“I’m looking forward to being on the ground in Sochi and getting to see slopestyle snowboarding and snowboarding explode on the world stage,” says, demonstrating how important these games are for the sport.
He also believes that several factors will contribute to slopestyle quickly becoming a favourite of the worldwide audience.
“I think that Olympic fans will fall in love with the fact that it is just so exciting to watch,” explains McMorris. “Big jumps, big rails, these athletes and going to be pushing the limits of themselves and the sport. It’s going to be incredible to see how they perform in Sochi.”
McMorris also says that just being around this snowboarding coming out party will help him personally as a snowboarder. Watching the world’s best compete on the highest stage will only give him more snowboarding knowledge, and, according to McMorris, “When you are smarter you are a better snowboarder”.
As for his aforementioned personality, it was on full display this year in the hit MTV show McMorris & McMorris which documented the lives of him and his brother. Whether on an insane spring break trip or ridding a small motorized bike over plywood jumps in light blue body suit and goggles, the eccentric personality of Craig McMorris was the highlight of the show. It also showed that while the success of his younger brother casts a massive shadow, McMorris has effortlessly found his own fraction of light.
For fans of the show, McMorris tells Last Word On Sports that a second season is in the works, and will “mostly likely” air. However, he makes no guarantees.
The Olympic men’s slopestyle competition begins on February 6th with the qualification round. The Semi-Finals and Final are both on February the 8th.
Main photo credit: Camp of Champions via photopin cc
