Kiwi golden girl Zoi makes history
“SUPER-PROUD” SNOWBOARDER Zoi Sadowski Synnott made history for New Zealand after winning their first ever Winter Olympics gold medal last Sunday (Feb 5).
Despite gusty winds which forced the men’s downhill skiing to be postponed, the 20-year-old Sadowski Synnott held her nerve to take the women’s snowboard slopestyle title with the last run of the competition and make history.
“Honestly it’s absolute disbelief but it probably means more to me to win New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold,” said Sadowski Synnott, who was born in Sydney and moved to New Zealand when she was six.
“It makes me super proud to be a Kiwi.”
Sadowski Synnott, who spent COVID lockdown back in New Zealand jumping on a trampoline to help her aerial awareness, launched into a massive jump with her final trick to earn a winning score of 92.88.
She was mobbed at the finish by American Julia Marino, who was relegated into silver with 87.68, and bronze medallist Tess Coady of Australia.
New Zealand had previously won one silver and two bronze medals at the Winter Olympics – including a third-place finish for Sadowski Synnott in the Big Air competition at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Elsewhere, Max Parrot, who three years ago was in hospital fighting cancer, won the men’s snowboard slopestyle gold on Monday (Feb 7).
The Canadian, who said chemotherapy left him “at zero percent” when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 2018, beat 17-year-old Chinese home favourite Su Yiming to win gold with a score of 90.96.
“Exactly three years ago I was lying in a hospital and I had no energy, no muscles, no cardio,” said the 27-year-old Parrot.
“It was the hardest moment of my life and to be standing here three years later at the Olympics again, doing my passion, laying down the best run I’ve ever done and winning gold – it’s insane.
“I used to take life for granted and I don’t any more. Every time I strap my feet on my snowboard, I appreciate it so much more than before.”