Teenager dominates halfpipe event
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea — Gold medal in hand and Olympic dream fully realized, Chloe Kim could have turned her third and final run in the women’s snowboarding final into a victory lap.
Only she couldn’t. Gold medals are nice and all, but to the 17-year-old, the journey is the point, not the destination. It’s about proving something. Not to quiet whatever doubters might remain in a sport where she’s stamping herself as an all-time great as a teenager, but to herself. So she went for it. “I knew that if I went home with a gold medal knowing I could do better, I wasn’t going to be satisfied,” Kim said.
Kim turned her coronation into an exclamation point, stomping a pair of 1080 spins (three complete turns) at calm and brilliant Phoenix Snow Park, then practically diving into a hug with American teammate and bronze-medal winner Arielle Gold to seal a moment four years in the making.
“I don’t really know what’s happening, and I’m actually feeling a little anxious right now,” Kim said. “I’m a little overwhelmed. But this is the best outcome I could ever ask for and it’s been such a long journey. Ahhh, just going home with the gold is amazing.”
Competing in front of her extended family, a group that included her Korean-born parents and her South Korean grandmother, and apparently on an empty stomach — she actually tweeted during the competition that she was “hangry” after failing to finish her breakfast sandwich — Kim put on a show that delivered on her considerable pre-Olympic hype. She put together a 93.75 during her first run, one that included just one 1080, not the two that have become her trademark. No matter. The perfection-flirting third run provided a cathartic exclamation point.
“I knew that I did put down a really good first run, but I was also like, ‘I can do better than that. I can one-up myself,’ ” Kim said.
Liu Jiayu took silver with an 89.75 to become the first Chinese snowboarder to medal at the Olympics. Gold, who pondered retirement last summer, overcame a dislocated shoulder suffered during training to edge teammate and three-time Olympic medalist Kelly Clark for third.
Kim’s parents were born in South Korea and immigrated to the United States, putting their daughter in an interesting position heading into her first Olympics.
Though she understands the urge to build a narrative around her that turns her into a connective tissue of sorts between the host country and the one she calls home, it’s one she politely has sidestepped. She views herself as just a kid from Torrance (Los Angeles County) who likes music, the mall, ice cream and, oh, by the way, putting down the type of gravity-escaping, physics-challenging runs that have made her a dominant force in her sport.
Kim would have made the Olympic team with ease four years ago, only to have the calendar get in the way. She was 13 then, too young to make the trip to Russia. She entered the quadrennium between the Games with the kind of expectations reserved for the Shaun Whites of the snowboarding world. She has exceeded every one.
Her No. 1 bib soaring into the South Korean sky, she put on a display that left the rest of the field and the thousands packed near the finish roaring their approval and vaulting her to a level of stardom for which she’s not quite sure she’s prepared. Kim is well aware she’ll become a role model for other Korean American kids whether she wants the role or not.
She’ll figure it out as she goes.
“The one thing I learned was just give everything a shot,” she said. “You don’t want to live in regret. I feel like no regrets is the best way to go.”