Courtney Balcome

Creative Editor

clb6264@psu.edu

With the 2022 Winter Olympics coming close to an end, one U.S. female athlete has made Olympic history as the first female to win back-to-back gold medals.

Chloe Kim first competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics where she took home the gold at 17-years-old. According to Time, she recalled her experience when she came home after her gold medal.

“The minute I come home, I can’t even go to my goddamn favorite place,” Kim said. “It makes you angry. I just wanted a day where I was left alone. And it’s impossible. And I appreciate that everyone loves and supports me, but I just wish people could understand what I was going through up to that point. Everyone was like, ‘I just met her, and she’s such a bitch.’ I’m not a bitch. I just had the most exhausting two months of my life, and the minute I get home I’m getting hassled. I just want to get my f-cking ham and cheese sandwich and go.”

Kim now speaks openly about the racism she experienced competing in a mostly white sport, and how hate crimes against Asian Americans have left her feeling vulnerable and scared. She embraced therapy after the pandemic made her recognize the need to tend to her mental health. She also took time off from snowboarding to attend college, hoping to experience life like a normal teenager.

“I don’t care anymore,” Kim said. “I guess I would tell my younger self that even though things get hard and people are mean to you or whatever, it’ll get better and you’re going to realize that you have so much good happening in your life, that the bad isn’t going to hurt you. It’s just annoying. It’s like an annoying mosquito in the background, just flying around.”

According to The Olympics website, Kim tried to compete in 2014, but unfortunately was too young at 14-years-old. Then at the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games, she was ahead of the competition, winning halfpipe and slopestyle gold. She also notched the highest score in YOG snowboarding halfpipe history, and acted as the USA flag bearer.

By the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, Kim was, for many, the face of the Games. As a fluent Korean speaker whose parents were first generation South Korean immigrants to the U.S. She appealed to home and overseas fans alike and ended up winning gold in the halfpipe, with a remarkable score of 98.25 points, 10 points ahead of her nearest rival. It made her a household name around the world, and the youngest halfpipe gold medallist. She was the first athlete ever to win all four major snowboarding titles in the Olympics, Worlds, Youth Olympics and X Games.

Now at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, according to BuzzFeed News, Kim scored a 94.00 in her first run on the halfpipe, a dominant score that carried her to a second Olympic gold. Spain’s Queralt Castellet and Sena Tomita from Japan took home silver and bronze respectively.

Kim’s winning run in Beijing included a 1080, a switch 900, a switch backside 540 and another 1080 and underlined her status as the biggest star in women’s snowboarding. But the pressure to succeed has weighed heavily on her shoulders, and the relief at landing her first run was evident, as Kim burst into tears before her score had even been announced.

“I was really excited to land my first run, I really struggled during practice,” she revealed. “It just felt unreal to be able to do that and pull it off. I can’t believe it. I’m just so grateful I was able to do that and really proud of myself for being able to push through and overcome that big mental battle I had before going into my first run.”

The Olympics website shared, whether Kim will extend her unbeaten run to the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 remains to be seen, with the American superstar undecided on another gold medal bid.

“I genuinely don’t know how many more Olympics I’m going to do; it’s all about how I am feeling mentally and physically,” Kim revealed.