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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Leyland Cecco in Toronto, Harriet Barber in Medellín and Thomas Graham in Tijuana

Ryan Wedding’s journey from Olympic snowboarder to alleged cocaine kingpin

a man snowboarding
Ryan James competes at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy

To compete at the highest levels of snowboarding, racers must master carving, edging and balance at speeds stretching the limits of imagination. They can fluently read the nuances of snow and fine-tune their bodies to cross the finish line faster than anyone else.

The Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding had these skills – but also the quality that catapults amateurs to an elite level: a highly competitive instinct to succeed that can at times manifest in a desire to crush fellow competitors.

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