Julia Marino, a U.S. snowboarder, said she pulled out of Monday’s big air qualifier in Beijing due to the International Olympic Committee’s demand to cover the Prada logo on her snowboard, which she says led to her hurting her tailbone.
Marino took to her Instagram story to explain the controversy and claimed the IOC told her to cover the designer symbol, or be disqualified from the event.
“For everyone asking, the night before the big air (competition), the IOC told me they no longer approved my board even (though) they approved it for slope,” Marino, 24, 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 a sharpie.”
Marino spoke to NBC Connecticut in Beijing after her decision to withdraw.
“The night before, I get all these calls and texts saying the IOC is disapproving my Prada board — the Prada logo,” she said.
Prada is not an official Olympic sponsor. Marino’s Instagram bio says she is a “Prada athlete.”
Earlier this month, Marino used the same Prada snowboard when she claimed silver in the women’s slopestyle event to win Team USA’s first Olympic medal of the Beijing Games.
According to Front Office Sports, before she won silver, an IOC official confronted Marino at practice and demanded she tape over the Prada logo on her helmet. She complied.
Now, the IOC is reportedly facing questions about whether its alleged mandates, specific to Marino, caused her to injure herself in Beijing.
On Monday, Marino said she was practicing for women’s slopestyle finals with her Prada board that she covered in red sharpie and injured her tailbone in a crash due to distraction over the issue.
“Anyway I dropped into the jump to see how the tailbone felt after taking a slam the other day in practice and after my base being altered. I had no speed for the jump and wasn’t able to clear it several times,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Was just feeling pretty physically and mentally drained from this distraction and the slam I took. I was super-hyped with how I did in slope, my main event, and decided not to risk further injury even (though) that didn’t appear to be the top priority of the IOC.”
Marino’s $3,600 Prada snowboard reportedly sold out within hours after she won silver for Team USA, according to FOS.
In a letter to the IOC, obtained by Front Office Sports, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee reportedly argued that it was fair for Marino to compete with her Prada board, just as other athletes use Burton and Roxy brand snowboards.
“Finally, covering the logo is not a feasible option. The logo is molded to the board and altering it would cause drag and interrupt the surface intended to glide. For these reasons, we ask the IOC to reconsider its position and allow Julia Marino to use the board used during the Snowboard Slopestyle competition,” USOPC vice president Dean Nakamura wrote in the letter.
On Tuesday, the IOC released a statement to NBC Connecticut:
“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.”
