After a narrow Olympic loss, snowboarder Scotty James looks toward 2030

LIVIGNO, Italy (AP) — Scotty James was right. The sun did, in fact, rise Saturday morning, even if it was snowing hard at the halfpipe where he came oh-so-close to living out his Olympic dream the night before.

The Aussie snowboarder spent a lifetime trying to reach this moment. When his moment came, he came an agonizing half-turn short of winning the Olympic gold medal that has eluded him. He said he has every intention of staying in the sport, likely for another run at the gold four years from now.

For now, though, a chance to process what just happened. For an athlete who left home and moved to America at age 12 to see just how far he could go in this sport, a second silver medal was nothing to be ashamed of. That's why, in the aftermath, some smiles broke through the inevitable tears.

“It's OK to be upset, it's all right to cry. It's OK to get frustrated, and it's OK to not achieve exactly what you want,” said the 31-year-old James. “Because tomorrow the sun will rise, I'll give the medal to my son, he won't even know what it is, but it'll be a proud moment to give it to him.”

As his documentary that dropped earlier this winter showed, James has it all. He lives in Monaco, has a wife who's the daughter of a billionaire. His son, Leo, is closing in on 18 months old.

That gold medal was, however, the one thing missing — the “elephant in the room" he called it.

It's why the tears flowed freely from the eyes of his mother, Celia, and why his father, Phil, said the evening left him feeling proud, but “a bit flat.”

“I don’t think people really get the work they put in," Celia James said. "All these guys, but if you’re from Australia, you’re away from home a lot from a very young age. I think today is probably a day he thought was going to be a day that was the gold, the reward for it all. And silver is good, but I just think for him, it’s not going to be the reward he wanted.”

James admitted as much.

He'll be 35 at the next Olympics. Japan, which placed four riders among the top seven in Friday's contest, including the man who won, 24-year-old Yuto Totsuka, will only get better and deeper.

In many ways, those riders from Japan have turned these halfpipe contests into an aerial show. They are tremendous snowboarders doing amazing things. James has always been more into the soul of the sport, feeling a really difficult spin or a great grab of the board means as much, or more, than a triple cork.

In his mind, it's a fight worth fighting while he's still healthy and still waking up every day thinking about what else might be possible on that 5-foot-long piece of wood and fiberglass.

Someone asked him: “What is Scotty James' ‘Why?’”

He dissolved into tears, and spoke about his family, friends and support staff that have followed him around the world, pursuing his dream.

“It's a loaded question," he said. “My ‘why’ would be, I want to leave my footprint on the sport, but also the industry. That's sometihng I strive for every day. It's what I get up for. I'm up there for myself and what I can accomplish in the halfpipe. But also to share that with the people who support me.”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Silver medalist Australia's Scotty James reacts as he arrives for the medal ceremony after the men's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Silver medalist Australia's Scotty James, left, celebrates with gold medalist Japan's Yuto Totsuka after the men's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

Australia's Scotty James reacts during the men's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Silver medalist Australia's Scotty James holds an Australian flag after the men's snowboarding halfpipe finals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Livigno, Italy, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

MUNICH, Germany (AP) — Supporters of Iran ’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi were looking Saturday to world leaders gathered in Munich, Germany, to ratchet up pressure for change on the Iranian government.

Pahlavi called for demonstrations in Munich, Los Angeles and Toronto on what he described as a “global day of action,” urging supporters to take to streets to push for "urgent, practical steps in support of the Iranian people.”

Iranian leaders are already under intense scrutiny, facing renewed threats of U.S. military action from President Donald Trump. Trump wants Iran to further scale back its nuclear program. He suggested Friday that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen."

Iran was also the focus of protests in Munich on Friday, the opening day of an annual security conference in the city gathering European leaders and global security figures. Supporters of the Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, demonstrated against Iran's deadly crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s deposed shah who abandoned his throne and fled the country in 1979, has been in exile for nearly 50 years but is trying to position himself as a player in Iran's future.

At a news conference in Munich on Saturday, Pahlavi warned of the likelihood of more deaths in Iran if “democracies stand by and watch."

“We gather at an hour of profound peril to ask: Will the world stand with the people of Iran?" he asked.

He added that the Iranian government's continued survival “sends a clear signal to every bully: kill enough people and you stay in power.”

The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency says at least 7,005 people were killed in the protest, including 214 government forces. It has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in Iran to verify deaths.

Iran’s government offered its only death toll on Jan. 21, saying 3,117 people were killed. Iran’s theocracy in the past has undercounted or not reported fatalities from past unrest.

The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.

Supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi stand under a huge historic Iranian flag as they attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Iranian Shah, attends a press conference at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday Feb. 14, 2026. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Supports of Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Supporters of the Iranian opposition organisation People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, PMOI, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, MEK, show posters of people, they said was killed during the protests in Iran, at a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, takes part at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Supporters of the Iranian opposition organisation People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, PMOI, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, MEK, attend a protest during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)