Maxence "Max" Parrot (born June 6, 1994 in Cowansville) is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the reigning Olympic champion in slopestyle, winning gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics and also won a silver in the event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Parrot has also won six gold medals at the Winter X Games and two gold medals at the Winter X Games Europe.

Maxence Parrot
Personal information
NationalityCanadian
Born (1994-06-06) June 6, 1994 (age 30)[1]
Cowansville, Quebec
Height180 cm (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Weight70 kg (154 lb)[2]
Websitewww.maxparrot.com
Sport
CountryCanada
SportSnowboarding
Event(s)Slopestyle, Big air
Medal record
Men's snowboarding
Representing  Canada
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 1 1
Winter X Games 8 5
World Championships - 1
World Cup (globes) 1 3 2
World Cup (events) 8 4 1
Total 18 14 4
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2022 Beijing Slopestyle
Silver medal – second place 2018 Pyeongchang Slopestyle
Bronze medal – third place 2022 Beijing Big air
World Championships
Silver medal – second place 2021 Aspen Big air
Winter X Games
Gold medal – first place 2014 Aspen Big Air
Gold medal – first place 2014 Aspen Slopestyle
Gold medal – first place 2016 Aspen Big Air
Gold medal – first place 2017 Aspen Big Air
Gold medal – first place 2018 Aspen Big Air
Gold medal – first place 2020 Aspen Big Air
Silver medal – second place 2013 Aspen Slopestyle
Silver medal – second place 2015 Aspen Big Air
Silver medal – second place 2022 Aspen Big Air
Winter X Games Europe
Gold medal – first place 2019 Oslo Big air
Gold medal – first place 2020 Hafjell Slopestyle
Silver medal – second place 2016 Oslo Big Air
Silver medal – second place 2017 Hafjell Big Air
Silver medal – second place 2020 Hafjell Big air

Early life

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Parrot was born and raised near the Bromont ski area in Quebec. He began skiing at age three and discovered snowboarding at age 9.[3] His father, Alain Parrot, was an alpine ski racer and Canadian waterski champion.[4][5]

Career

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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.[6] 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.[7] He competes in slopestyle and represented Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.[8][9] Parrot has won a gold and silver medal each in both slopestyle and the big air events at the Winter X Games.[citation needed]

He competed for Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics 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 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."[10]

In early 2019, Parrot was diagnosed with blood cancer, Hodgkin Lymphoma, and underwent 12 rounds of extensive chemotherapy for 6 months. He recovered later that year and returned to competing, winning gold at the 2020 Winter X Games and beating fellow Canadian Mark McMorris.[11]

Parrot was named as part of Canada's 2022 Olympic team.[12][13][14] 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.[15][16] His win was not without some controversy, as judges later admitted to missing a knee grab that according to BBC News analyst Ed Leigh, would have "totally upended the podium".[17][18][19] 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."[17] 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."[17] Parrot finished his Olympics with a bronze medal in the big air event.[20]

Following the 2022 Olympics, Parrot announced he would be taking a break from competition for the 2022-2023 season but would continue training.[21]

Personal life

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On January 17, 2019, Parrot announced he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma on December 21, 2018, and that he had started a six-month course of chemotherapy.[22] Parrot announced that he had beaten Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2019 and returned to competition that year.[23] Parrot filmed a documentary, MAX- Life as a Gold Medal, about his experience with cancer as well as becoming a spokesperson for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.[24] Parrot is engaged to his fiancée, Kayla, with whom he has one son, born May 2022.[21]

References

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  1. ^ "Maxence Parrot". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Profile". Snowboarding Canada. Retrieved January 9, 2014.
  3. ^ Cantin, Philippe (February 7, 2014). "Une médaille pour les Parrot". La Presse (in French). Retrieved September 11, 2021.
  4. ^ Cantin, Philippe (February 7, 2014). "Une médaille pour les Parrot" [A Medal for the Parrots]. La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  5. ^ "Our Ambassadors: Max Parrot". 2017 World Gymnastics Championships. Archived from the original on January 4, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  6. ^ O'Neil, Devon (January 25, 2014). "With two X Games golds, Max Parrot remains an underdog". ESPN. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  7. ^ "Max Parrot Talks About The First Quad Flip, Haters, And What's Next". TransWorld SNOWboarding. April 23, 2015. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
  8. ^ "Mark McMorris breaks rib in X Games slopestyle final". CBC Sports. January 25, 2014.
  9. ^ Bane, Colin (January 25, 2014). "Mark McMorris breaks rib during Slopestyle finals". X Games. Retrieved February 10, 2018.
  10. ^ "Parrot, McMorris claim Canada's 1st medals, take silver and bronze in snowboard slopestyle". CBC Sports. February 10, 2018.
  11. ^ "Max Parrot wins X Games snowboard big air, one year after cancer diagnosis". NBC News. January 26, 2020.
  12. ^ Nichols, Paula (January 19, 2022). "19 snowboarders nominated to Team Canada for Beijing 2022". www.olympic.ca/. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  13. ^ Dichter, Myles (January 19, 2022). "'Strongest team in all of snowboarding': Canadian squad named for Beijing Olympics". www.cbc.ca/. CBC Sports. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  14. ^ "Toutant, McMorris, Parrot, Blouin return as Canada's Olympic snowboard team announced". Canadian Press. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. January 19, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2022.
  15. ^ Mitchell, Kevin (February 7, 2022). "Canada's Max Parrot claims Olympic gold, Mark McMorris gets bronze in snowboard slopestyle". National Post. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  16. ^ Dichter, Myles (February 7, 2022). "Snowboarder Max Parrot soars to Canada's 1st gold medal at Beijing Olympics, McMorris adds bronze". www.cbc.ca/. CBC Sports. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  17. ^ a b c Katie Falkingham (February 7, 2022). "Winter Olympics: Max Parrot wins snowboard slopestyle gold three years after cancer diagnosis".
  18. ^ "Canada's Parrot takes slopestyle gold after judging error". BBC Sport. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  19. ^ ""We judged from a specific media angle that we were given": Olympic Head Snowboard Judge Speaks About The Controversial Slopestyle Result". Whitelines Snowboarding. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  20. ^ "Canada's Max Parrot wins bronze in men's Big Air snowboarding". www.sportsnet.ca. Sportsnet. February 15, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  21. ^ a b OlympicTalk (December 7, 2022). "Max Parrot the latest snowboard star to take competition break". OlympicTalk | NBC Sports. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  22. ^ "Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma". CBC Sports. January 17, 2019. Retrieved January 17, 2019.
  23. ^ Scott Stinson (February 7, 2022). "Three years after beating cancer, Max Parrot goes home with an Olympic gold medal". National Post.
  24. ^ Tulloch, Ashlee; Binner, Andrew (February 20, 2022). "Max Parrot: Cancer reshaped my life for the better". Olympics.
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