At the young age of 17, snowboarder Chloe Kim won gold for the United States in her event, the halfpipe. She is the youngest woman to ever win an Olympic snowboarding medal, and the second youngest overall. This amazing accomplishment was extra exciting for Kim, as it was done in the country where her family is from, in front of both her Korean and American family members.
Before the Olympics, Kim competed in the X Games, where she won four gold medals for the halfpipe and slopestyle events, and the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, where she won gold. She is the only athlete in the history of the X Games to win three gold medals before the age of sixteen. She also set the record for the highest snowboarding score in Youth Olympic history and also became the first woman in a snowboarding competition to land back-to-back 1080 spins.
This incredible young woman started snowboarding at the age of four and she has been competing since she was six. Growing up in California made it difficult to find places to snowboard, and eventually she traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to train for two years. She then joined the Mammoth Mountain Snowboard Team, before joining up with U.S. Snowboarding in 2013. Her lifelong dedication and drive gave her the technique and ability to win. Her dad has been her rock, starting her off snowboarding at that young age, and then quitting his job to travel around the world with her.
Beyond her athletic ability, Kim is trilingual (Korean, French, English), plays the acoustic guitar, and enjoys shopping, hiking and skateboarding. She was born in Long Beach, California on April 23, 2000 but calls Torrance, California her home.
Some more fun facts about Chloe Kim:
- She loves ice cream, specifically Vanilla Swiss Almond.
- Her favorite number is 4.
- Her go-to pump-up jam is “MotorSport” by Migos, Cardi B and Nicki Manaj
Kim plans on continuing her snowboarding career, and we look forward to hearing about many more years of success!