If I do go to Japan, I'm not going to have flags sewn on my clothes. And if I do well, I'm not going to run around waving a flag. Where I come from, nobody has national pride. I don't ride for my country. If I did win, I'd celebrate with my friends from Finland and California, not Norway.
American riders are more into the whole Olympic thing.
Personally, I think it's not a big deal. It is to his buddy Eric Kotch. Last month the two sat around Kotch's Southern California beach house debating the pros and cons of participating in the Olympics. But the average consumer who watches the Olympics on TV isn't going to know that the best rider protested the Games by not showing up. Haakonsen smiled gently.