The name Chloe Kim has been recently making headlines – and no, we’re not referring to the Kardashians.
Chloe Kim is the 17-year-old Olympic halfpipe snowboarder from Torrance, California who brought home gold for Team USA in the women’s halfpipe snowboarding final in PyeongChang, South Korea. With a near-perfect score of 98.75 on her final run, she became the youngest woman to win an Olympic medal for snowboarding.
Born in 2000, Chloe began snowboarding at age four and competing at just six years old. She previously won four gold medals during various Winter X Games from 2015-2018. Chloe is a also a first-generation Korean American, which makes her Olympic feat even more special, because her parents, who were cheering her on in the stands, are both from South Korea.
At age 13, Chloe was qualified to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, however, she was unable to compete because she was too young – the minimum snowboarding age is 15. “Looking back on it, I’m really glad I couldn’t go. I don’t know how my 13-year-old self would have dealt with it,” said Chloe in an interview with TIME.
Chloe isn’t even the youngest athlete competing in PyeongChang. There are six 15-year-olds and four 16-year-olds competing in this year’s Winter Olympics. Canadian curler, Cheryl Bernard, 51, is the oldest Olympian competing in PyeongChang.
The rest of Team USA is also doing well, with eight Olympic medals earned as of Feb. 15th:
Gold, Jamie Anderson, Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle
Gold, Red Gerard, Men’s snowboard Slopestyle
Gold, Chloe Kim, Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe
Gold, Shaun White, Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe
Gold, Mikaela Shiffrin, Women’s Giant Slalom
Silver, Chris Mazdzer, Men’s Luge
Bronze, Arielle Gold, Women’s Snowboard Halfpipe
Bronze, Team USA Figure Skating
The 2018 Winter Olympics will wrap up on Feb. 25 with bobsled, cross-country, curling and hockey medal competitions. The closing ceremony will take place at 8 p.m. later that night in the PyeongChang Olympic Stadium. Since South Korea is 14 hours ahead of the US East Coast, this translates to 6 a.m. on Feb. 25 for the East Coast of the United States.
Watch the 2018 Winter Olympics on NBC.