- US snowboarder Julia Marino, 24, withdrew from the Olympics after being injured.
- The IOC required Marino to cover the snowboard's Prada logo, claiming it violated Olympic rules.
- Front Office Sports reported the IOC now faces questions about if the decision caused the injury.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is facing scrutiny after mandating US snowboarder Julia Marino cover her board's Prada logo before she suffered injuries during the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Marino withdrew from the Olympics prior to the big air competition which was scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
According to Front Office Sports' Michael McCarthy, the 24-year-old Olympian arrived in Beijing with sponsorship from Prada's luxury sportswear brand, Prada Linea Rossa. The Prada sponsorship included a branded helmet and snowboard, but Prada isn't an official Olympic sponsor, the outlet reports.
Front Office Sports reported that Marino was practicing for the women's slopestyle finals when an IOC official requested she tape over her helmet's Prada logo, to which Marino complied. She later won the silver medal in women's slopestyle on February 5 and became the first US Winter Olympics athlete to win a medal in 2022, the outlet reported.
However, the outlet reports that the IOC confronted Marino a second time after finding fault with her $3,600 Prada snowboard, which sold out hours after.
The IOC argued that Marino's sponsored equipment violated Olympic rules, notified Team USA that the athlete was out of compliance, and gave the snowboarder two options: cover the logo or use a new board, according to Front Office Sports. Marino chose to cover the board's logo.
Front Office Sports reported that Marino may have crashed because she was distracted by the controversy. Following the fall, she withdrew from the Olympics citing an injured tailbone, according to her Instagram Stories post.
Representatives for Marino and Prada did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
In a statement to Insider, an IOC representative said it "understands" Marino fell during Friday's practice and was unable to compete on Monday, but maintained there were no alterations to the snowboard on Friday.
Marino was competing with a snowboard that included branding from a company that "doesn't primarily have its business in sporting goods, contrary to Olympic advertising rules that protect the funding of the Olympic Movement," the statement continued. According to the IOC's statement, the equipment would need to be approved by the National Olympic Committee (NOC) and the International Sports Federation (IF), prior to competing.
The IOC told Insider that they worked with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) on a solution "with minimal impact" that included possibly keeping the equipment and removing the branding.
The USOPC initially defended Marino in a letter to the IOC, but the IOC maintained its position, according to Front Office Sports.
In the letter obtained by the outlet, USOPC vice president Dean Nakamura said Marino had the right to compete with her Prada snowboard since her fellow competitors did with Roxy and Burton branded snowboards. Nakamura also voiced that covering the board was not "a feasible option" and "altering it would cause drag and interrupt the surface intended to glide."
For these reasons, we ask the IOC to reconsider its position and allow Julia Marino to use the board used during the Snowboard Slopestyle competition," the letter continued, according to Front Office Sports.
In an Instagram Stories post on Monday, Marino said that she opted to cover the logo with a red Sharpie.
"For everyone asking, the night before the big air [competition], the IOC told me they no longer approved my board even [though] they approved it for slope … they told me I would be disqualified if I didn't cover the logo and obligated me to literally draw on the base of my board with a sharpie," Marino wrote.
Marino continued that she attempted a practice run to see how she performed following the tailbone injury and altered snowboard.
"I had no speed for the jump and wasn't able to clear it several times. Was just feeling pretty physically and mentally drained from this distraction and the slam I took," she said.
Marino concluded the Instagram Stories post by saying she was "super-hyped" about her performance in her main event, slopestyle, and chose to withdraw to avoid further injury.
"Even [though] that didn't appear to be the top priority of the IOC," she wrote.