Tensions re-emerge between Hughes and Pullin after Chumpy’s podium snub
Related Story: Jarryd Hughes wins Olympic silver for Australia in snowboard cross
Usurped as Australia's residing snowboard star, Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin opted not to watch on as Jarryd Hughes celebrated his snowboard cross silver medal in Pyeongchang.
Hughes hung tough in the men's final at the Phoenix Snow Park to finish second behind France's defending gold medallist and world champion Pierre Vaultier.
Pullin, the second Australian in the final, crashed midway through the race and did not finish. He left the snowboard cross course without speaking to Hughes, as long-standing tensions came to the surface at the Winter Olympics.
Pullin did turn up to Hughes' medal party last night, but the podium absence reminded everyone of old scars as Olympic Winter Institute (OWIA) boss Geoff Lipshut confirmed there were long-running "personal issues" between the two.
"What we have done is put a process in place where they all respect each other as athletes," Lipshut told AAP.
"We've set up a process where they are happy to be on the same team here and they all get on well enough to do their sport — and that's all we ask of them."
Hughes trains separately to Pullin and several other snowboard riders in the Australian team.
The tensions between the two follow on from the well-publicised spat over funding during the Sochi Winter Olympics, where a group of snowboarders, including Hughes, labelled themselves 'Team Outcast' and argued OWIA and the Australian Olympic Committee had spent too much money on Pullin.
But Lipshut said the Olympic team made preparations for Pyeongchang with the personal dynamics in mind, and that the funding issues of old had been resolved.
"No-one crossed each other and the lead-up here has been respectful," he said.
"We actually rehearsed the lead-in [to the Winter Games] for years. We said, 'You're all going to be in the same team, you better get used to it'.
"In this sport, you need to be a very strong personality because it's just dog-eat-dog out there. That's the type of sport it is. If you want dog-eat-dog you need some big dogs."
Pullin did give Australian team-mate Cam Bolton a congratulatory hi-five, after Bolton finished 10th overall.
But Hughes, with an Olympic silver medal to ease any misgivings, was philosophical.
"We're an individual sport, we all want to beat each other. It is what it is."
Hughes said he was grateful for the Olympic team's program, developed since the 2014 Sochi Games, that accounted for the combustible team dynamic, adding he wouldn't have made it to Pyeongchang without the change in direction.
"I'm just happy to see all the hard work paying off and it working out," Hughes said.
"It was a rough year but we made it work so I'm really happy."
Hughes joins Matt Graham (silver, men's moguls) and Scotty James (bronze, men's snowboard halfpipe) as Australia's medallists in Pyeongchang.
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ABC .net
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