A run at the booth

TODD Richards, who shares with Kevin Jones the distinction of being the most decorated male snowboarder of all time, makes his Olympic broadcast debut as NBC’s snowboarding analyst at the Turin Winter Games, which begin with Friday’s opening ceremonies.

For NBC, he’ll provide analysis for the halfpipe, slalom and snowboard-cross events. Richards’ partner in the broadcast booth will be Pat Parnell, a veteran of NBC and OLN.

Parnell, says Richards, “is more of the setup guy. He’ll throw it to me to talk about the runs, the riders and the tricks they are doing.”

The 36-year-old World Snowboarding Champion participated in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan. He has competed professionally for a decade and has won seven medals at the Winter X Games.

He’s the “star” of PlayStation video games and even has his own action figures. He’s also tried his hand at acting, making his film debut in 2001’s “Out Cold” and in the 2005 release “First Descent -- The Story of the Snowboarding Revolution.” His book about the emergence and growth of snowboarding, “P3: Pipes, Parks, and Powder,” was published in 2003.

For the last few years, Richards has also worked in the broadcast booth at the Winter X Games.

How did you start doing commentary for the Winter X Games?

One year I got hurt and they said, “You should come in here and do some commentary since you’re hurt and you know so much about it.” It just kind of went from there.

Will it be odd not to compete in the Olympics?

I am looking forward to it -- not having to stress out all the time, just be there and actually experience the Olympics for what it is as an event instead of being gripped the whole time about your event and how you are going to do and that kind of stuff.

Have you found it easy to do on-air analysis and commentary?

It’s pretty easy. You have to learn not to go over the average viewer’s head with the lingo that we use within the sport, what we call tricks -- our abbreviations and jokes within the sport. You have to really dumb it down for the regular audience. That is not to say the audience is dumb, but they wouldn’t really get what was going on.

Because you are still competing, you probably don’t have to do a lot of homework on this year’s snowboard competitors.

I am competing with these kids and around these kids pretty much every weekend. The best way to get to know them is that I am friends with 99.9% of every competitor who is in freestyle snowboarding.

Isn’t there a new snowboard event at the Olympics?

The snowboard cross. The best way you could put it, it’s kind of like a roller derby-type thing. It’s five guys on the course at once, and the first guy through the finish line wins. There are all kinds of technical turns and jumps they have to go over, and they have to fend off the other competitors. I don’t know a lot of the competitors there, so that’s where I have to do my homework.

Will you be hitting the courses in Torino?

I’ll be at the Olympics for 20 days, and if I am not doing something, with my personality it will make me lose my marbles. So I’ll go up there and ride with these guys. It’s a good way to get immersed and get in their heads and see what they are thinking about and what tricks are being done. Maybe there are difficult areas in the pipe or maybe the snow is not set correctly. It is first-hand information I can give the [viewer], which is why they hired me.

How often do you compete?

I used to compete every weekend. But since I have gotten older and a little wiser I am doing different things -- doing photo shoots or filming for videos. I kind of pick and choose my events. I ride every single day. I am 36 years old and am competing against kids who are 18 to 24, so I need to stay on my feet every single day just so I don’t get sore.

You have been snowboarding for two decades. How did you get involved in the sport? Were you a skier?

I was a skier, but my skiing was more just going straight down the hill very fast. It was something I did with my parents. It wasn’t like I was passionate about it. It wasn’t until I discovered skateboarding -- the end of my freshman year in high school -- that I really fell in love with that sport. It wasn’t a team sport, but it was still really competitive. It just translated directly over to snowboarding.

Do your children snowboard?

My son learned last year. He picked it up instantly. He was 3 1/2 when he learned. The equipment has come so far since I learned that they really design and cater to what the beginner needs.

Have you ever had any serious injuries?

Knock on wood I have only broken one bone. I shattered my humerus in a million pieces. It was really, really horrible. I was off the slopes for three months.

-- Susan King