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Ross Rebagliati
Ross Rebagliati
01:07

Ross Rebagliati

Vancouver, British Columbia CAN

"Success is what you make of it. So you really have to decide for yourself what success means to you. I think as long as you're happy, then you're successful."

Career Roadmap

Ross's work combines: Action Sports, Sports, and Being Physically Active

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Day In The Life

Olympic Snowboarder

I'm a professional snowboarder and the first ever to win an Olympic gold medal for Men's Snowboarding.

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life has been direct

  • 1.

    He was never an academic, so he focused on athletics, mainly surfing.

  • 2.

    One day, some of his surfer friends introduced him to snowboarding, and he was hooked.

  • 3.

    Says that snowboarding saved his life; has no idea what he'd be doing if he wasn't snowboarding.

  • 4.

    Won a gold medal for snowboard racing in the 1998 Winter Olympics.

  • 5.

    Fellow athletes had warned him that the comedown after winning a medal was brutal, but he wasn't worried about it.

  • 6.

    But without his focus, and with a strange amount of fame following him, he lost his way; was overextended financially, having relationship issues.

  • 7.

    He forayed into painting and photography, and he says rediscovering the beauty in nature helped him get back in touch with himself.

  • 8.

    Says if you get to a point in your life where you feel off-course, you just need to take a little detour and rediscover your path.