The Untold Truth Of Olympic Gold Medalist Chloe Kim
Olympic gold medalist and inspirational Gen Z icon Chloe Kim's profile exploded after winning gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Since then, the young athlete has continued competing in snowboarding at the highest level in events like the Winter X Games, among others. She also speaks out on topical social justice issues important to her generation. Enrolled in Princeton since 2019, she is currently on leave from her studies, refocusing her attention on snowboarding, per U.S. Ski and Snowboard.
Next up for the young athlete are the 2022 Winter Olympic Games held in Beijing, China, where the California native will compete in the halfpipe, according to the official Team USA website. The 2022 Winter Olympic Games are February 4-20 on the networks of NBC and NBCUniversal. The participation of Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim will make this year's snowboarding competition, among other future appearances from the superstar snowboarder, even more thrilling to watch.
She's a second-generation Korean American
Chloe Kim was born in Long Beach in the year 2000 and spent most of her young life in nearby Torrance, California. Kim's parents are first-generation Korean-American immigrants. At the tender age of 4, Chloe Kim's father began driving his daughter six hours to Mammoth Mountain Ski Area, supporting the young athlete's interest in the sport of snowboarding (via People). Soon she was competing professionally in high-profile events like the Winter X Games and the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, only missing the 2014 Sochi Olympics due to age restrictions, according to U.S. Ski and Snowboard. She did, however, win silver at the 2014 X Games, per ESPN.
Spending several formative grade school years studying in Geneva, Switzerland, Kim is also fluent in both French and Korean, as well as her native language, English, proving her success both in school and on the halfpipe (via the Team USA website). On top of her incredible accomplishments in snowboarding, Kim also recently took a stand against anti-Asian hate crimes and anti-Asian sentiment on social media, of which she is a frequent target. "I used to love responding to my fans, but I don't look at my messages much anymore. Even if you get thousands of supportive messages, the hateful one will hit you the most," she told ESPN.
She's been competing since the age of 6
Chloe Kim has been snowboarding competitively since she was 6 years old. For this reason, the long list of her pre-Olympics accomplishments in the sport are accompanied by the "youngest ever" on several occasions. Unable to compete in the 2014 winter games, at the age of 16, she was the youngest person to not only win two gold medals in the Winter X Games; she was also the youngest person to ever win two in a row, per ESPN. At age 14, she held the record for youngest gold medalist all time, until 13-year-old Kelly Sildaru bested her in 2016 (via the official X Games Twitter account).
Further examples of Chloe's accomplishments prior to her Olympic appearances include scoring a perfect 100 at U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, putting her in rarefied air as far pro snowboarders are concerned. Snowboarding superstar Shaun White is the only other competitor to match a score that high, according to NBC Sports. By 2016, Kim was competing in the Winter Youth Olympic Games, where her high-scoring ways continued. She scored more points, in fact, than any other snowboarder in the history of the event, according to Team USA. That same year, she was also nominated for Best Breakthrough Athlete at the ESPYS (via ESPN).
She's the youngest woman to ever win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal
Once age-eligible to compete in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, Chloe Kim quickly made a name for herself on the halfpipe, winning gold with nearly a perfect score of 100, and roughly 10 points ahead of her nearest rival, Liu Jiayu, per the International Olympic Committee website. Only 17 at the time, Kim was also the youngest woman to ever win gold in the halfpipe (via Time Magazine).
This feat also earned Kim a spot on Time's influential Time 100 list, where she was profiled by well-known celebrity chef, restaurateur, and fellow Korean-American immigrant David Chang. That same year, Kim took a moment to reflect on her success, telling CNBC, "I just say, 'Never give up.' I feel like dreams are always a little tricky, you know. But if you just push through the struggles and the hard times, it'll be so worth it in the end, because you will be able to get to your dreams."
She's the youngest woman to land two 1080-degree spins in a row at the Olympics
Anyone who follows the sport of snowboarding knows it's all about the tricks. One of the hardest of all to pull off is the 1080-degree spin on the halfpipe — or three full rotations in the air, equaling 1,080 degrees before landing perfectly. Kim not only accomplished that feat in her first Olympic appearance, she did it twice, becoming the youngest female snowboard competitor to ever do so, according to CNN.
Also notable: This would be the second time she managed to perform the trick back-to-back in a major competition. Prior to the Olympics, Kim also landed two 1080-degree spins in a row at the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix in a victory lap on the halfpipe after already securing her first-place finish, making her the youngest woman to ever do so, as reported by NBC News. Referring to the feat, Kim told NBC News at the time, "It's crazy. I can't even put it to words. It feels awesome."
Her Kellogg's box is the fastest-selling cereal box in company history
Brand endorsements and other media appearance opportunities quickly followed Chloe Kim's historic success in the Winter Olympic Games, among other elite snowboarding competitions. As is the tradition with any Olympic gold medalist, Kellogg's Cereal put Kim's face on one of their corn flakes boxes, which became the fastest-selling cereal box of its kind in the history of such endorsements, selling out completely in less than seven hours (via SF Gate).
To also honor the positive role model Chloe Kim is for young women and young female athletes, Mattel Toys produced a "Shero" series of Barbie Dolls, including one with Kim's likeness, according to an Associated Press story posted by The Bend Bulletin. Talented on the halfpipe and on stage, Kim even made the semi-finals of the popular Fox Network singing competition "The Masked Singer" in 2020, and rounding out her awards shelf are three ESPYs won back in 2018 for Best Female Athlete and Best Female Olympian, as well as Best Female Action Sports Athlete, per E News!. Set to appear in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, and only 22 years old, Chloe Kim's long career in the spotlight seems to have only just begun.