Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati hit the big time at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, where he won gold and then had his medal taken away after testing positive for marijuana. By the time the IOC overturned its decision five days later—on the technicality that pot was not explicitly banned in Olympic competition—he was a worldwide celebrity. Now, more than a decade later, the 38-year-old is hoping to parlay his fame into a seat in Parliament.

Q: A couple of years ago, you were talking about making a comeback for the Vancouver 2010 Games. What happened to that idea?

A: Nothing happened to the idea, but the process to get back onto the national team put me right back at the junior level, competing against 15-year-olds. It wasn’t the sort of World Cup competition I needed, and the cost of it was more than I was able to come up with at the time. That made a comeback virtually impossible.

Q: Did you actually end up racing against 15-year-olds?

A: Oh yeah. I travelled down to Colorado and did a couple of races at Copper Mountain. And I made plans to go over to Europe and compete in the Europa Cup, the circuit below the World Cup. I felt like my riding was at a point where I would have quickly been able to get back to the level I needed to be at. But I just wasn’t able to enter into those races based on the system we have in Canada. In other countries, if you’re an ex-gold-medallist, you automatically have a spot on the national team. But to come back from retirement in Canada isn’t as easy. Continue…