Maxence "Max" Parrot (born June 6, 1994) is a Canadian

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

. He is the reigning Olympic champion in slopestyle, winning gold at the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Bei ...

and also won a silver in the event at the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

. Parrot has also won six gold medals at the

Winter X Games Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

and two gold medals at the

Winter X Games Europe The Winter X Games Europe is an annual sports event – the European edition of the Winter X Games – held in Tignes, France Tignes () is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern F ...

Early life

Parrot was born and raised near the Bromont ski area in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

. He began skiing at age 3 and discovered snowboarding at age 9. His father, Alain Parrot, was an

alpine ski racer Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel bindings, unlike other types of skiing (cross-country, Telemark, or ski jumping), which use skis with free-heel bindings. Whether for ...

and Canadian

waterski Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

champion.

Career

Max Parrot has made snowboarding history four times. In 2013 he laid down the first Backside Triple Cork ever seen in an X Games Slopestyle event. In 2014, Parrot was the first to land consecutive Triple jumps in a Slopestyle run at the X Games. In April 2015, Parrot performed the very first Cab Quadruple Underflip 1620. In January 2016, he brought the Cab 1800 Triple Cork into competition at the X Games in Aspen, earning him his second Big Air gold medal. He competes in

slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. The disc ...

and represented Canada at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

in Sochi. Parrot has won a gold and silver medal each in both slopestyle and the

big air Big air is a high-injury-risk sports discipline where the competitor rides a vehicle, such as a motocross motorcycle, a skateboard, a snowboard, or a pair of skis, down a hill or ramp and performs aerial tricks after launching off very large ju ...

events at the

. He competed for Canada at the

in South Korea where his first competition was in the slopestyle event. Parrot qualified for the final with the highest score, but in the final, he started with difficulty. He fell heavily on his first two of three runs, on his final run he threw down a clean run, scoring 86.00. This was good enough for the silver medal and his teammate

Mark McMorris Mark Lee McMorris (born December 9, 1993) is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, ...

finished in third for the bronze medal. After the run Parrot said that "I hit my head twice, a couple were pretty hard actually. But I'm fine, I'm good. My helmet saved me twice and it made it possible to do my third run and actually land it. It's mission accomplished for me here. I'm really happy." In early 2019, Parrot was diagnosed with cancer and went through extensive chemotherapy. He recovered later that year and returned to competing, winning gold at the 2020 Winter X Games and beating fellow Canadian Mark McMorris. Parrot was named as part of Canada's 2022 Olympic team. He began his Olympics in the slopestyle event, Parrot finished the qualifying round in 10th place which meant he would start third in the final. In his second run of the final, he scored a 90.96, a run that would not be beat, locking up the gold medal for Parrot. His win was not without some controversy, as judges later admitted to missing a knee grab that according to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

analyst Ed Leigh, would have "totally upended the podium". For his part, Parrot called it "the best run of his life. I'm so proud of every feature, how I was able to clear them, and I'm really stoked with my score." The gold medal came after a tumultuous four years that saw him recover from a cancer diagnosis to standing on top of the podium, Parrot talked about his recovery from cancer and Olympic win saying that "you have no cardio, you have no energy, you have no muscles. To be back out here, at the Olympics, on a podium again but with a gold medal, it feels amazing." Parrot finished his Olympics with a bronze medal in the big air event.

Personal life

On January 17, 2019, Parrot announced he had been diagnosed with

Hodgkin lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition ...

on December 21, 2018, and that he had started a six-month course of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

. Parrot announced that he had beaten Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2019 and returned to competition that year.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parrot, Maxence 1994 births Living people French Quebecers Canadian male snowboarders Olympic snowboarders of Canada People from Cowansville Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2022 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2022 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Quebec X Games athletes Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in snowboarding Laureus World Sports Awards winners