By Philip Hersh

VANCOUVER -- The Olympics haven't even begun, but U.S. snowboarder Graham Watanabe already has a leg up on the quote of the Games.

He certainly gets the idea the Olympics have a mythos.

Watanabe, 28, was an alternate at the 2006 Winter Games but wound up competing in snowboarder cross.

He still considers 2010 Games his first real Olympics, having assured himself a spot in the event. Asked what that meant to him at the U.S. snowboard team's Wednesday press conference, Watanabe said:

``Try to imagine Pegasus mating with a unicorn and the creature that they birth. I somehow tame it and ride it into the sky in the clouds and sunshine and rainbows. That’s what it feels like.”



Graham Watanabe at a December competition in Colorado. Getty Images / Doug Pensinger

