USA TODAY International Edition
Ledecka adds gold in snowboard to gold on skis
PYEONGCHANG, South Korea – Becoming the first Olympian to win gold medals in Alpine skiing and snowboarding, Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic on Saturday defied skeptics at these Games by trusting someone else. Herself.
“I was dreaming about this moment since I was a little child, and really since I was 5 years old I was thinking about to get an Olympics and win golds,” Ledecka, 22, said after winning the women’s parallel giant slalom in snowboarding a week after her stunning victory in the Alpine super-G. “There are so many who told me this is not possible.”
No one had attempted to compete in both sports at the Olympics, much less set out to win gold medals. Unlike the super-G, when Ledecka shocked everybody — herself included — she won comfortably in the parallel giant slalom at Phoenix Snow Park, outracing Germany’s Selina Joerg.
After Ledecka won, her snowboard coach, Justin Reiter, made a confession about her dream of competing in both sports. “I always doubted the ability to do both,” he said. “I always didn’t know if it was possible until this October. And we had a very candid conversation in which as the snowboard coach I was thinking, ‘Hey, maybe we have a real shot at a snowboard medal here. We should probably focus a little bit on snowboarding.’ ” A discussion ensued.
“We had a good conversation about it, and at the end of the conversation I went home feeling a little bit like I had thrown some water on a fire,” Reiter said. “And I came to training the next day and I said, ‘Hey, Ester, forget everything I said. if you want to to ski and snowboard, I don’t give a (expletive). Let’s go for it. …’
“From that moment forward, I think once she felt support from both sides, it lifted her up and gave her the ability to do more. Because a lot of coaches in the past have always been like, ‘Nah, nah, nah, you got to pick one.’ ”
She’s probably the only gold medalist who again wore her racing goggles during post-victory interviews because, Ledecka explained, she hadn’t put on makeup.
At the super-G, a medal seemed too unlikely to worry about makeup. But before the parallel giant slalom she was favored to win?
“I woke up very early, and to wake up even earlier just because of makeup,” she said with a grin, “no.”
Her coach cites Ledecka’s internal makeup — not the missing eye shadow, rouge and lipstick — as the reason she has proved so many people wrong and showed what’s possible for a dual winter sports star. “I think, if you know Ester, the joy that she has for riding, the joy that she has for skiing, the joy that she has for training and working hard is unmatched,” Reiter said.