Cancer survivor Max Parrot selected for Team Canada at Winter Olympics
The big-trick specialist joins Mark McMorris, Sébastien Toutant, and Laurie Blouin in a star-studded team of 19 snowboarders for Beijing 2022, starting this February.
Snowboard
Maxence ‘Max’ Parrot has been named in Canada's star-studded snowboard team for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
The Canadian Olympic Committee announcement marks a significant moment for the big air shredder, who was diagnosed with a cancer called Hodgkin's lymphoma at the end of 2018. After 12 chemotherapy treatments, he announced in mid-2019 that he had beaten the illness.
Two months after completing his final treatment, Parrot made a stunning return to competition, winning the big air gold medal at the X Games Norway. He continued his incredible run winning big air gold at X Games Aspen 2020. A big air silver medal at the 2021 World Championships followed.
"If I had the chance to go back two years and be able not to have cancer and just live a normal life, I wouldn't want that," the 27-year-old said in an interview with Olympics.com in December 2020.
"It's quite weird to say, but I've learned so much, and today I'm grateful for what happened because I'm a totally different person. I really love the person I am becoming and that I will become in the future as well."
Parrot won slopestyle silver at the PyeongChang 2018 Games, and will be hopeful of going one better this year after a first-place finish at the 2020 Big Air Shougang venue in Beijing, which will host the Olympic competition.
Three other snowboarding medallists from the last Winter Olympics have been named to the team announced on Wednesday (19 January).
Big air gold medallist Sébastien Toutant returns, along with slopestyle silver medallist Laurie Blouin, and slopestyle bronze medallist Mark McMorris.
The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games start 4 February 2022 with slopestyle beginning 5 February.