By Rachel Holbrook

The 2022 Winter Olympics were held from February 4 – February 20. An average of 11.4 million people tuned into these games. There were 15 different sports in the Winter Olympics. The snowboarding competitions took place in the Chongli District from February 5 – 15. There were a total of 11 snowboarding events.

American snowboarder Chloe Kim and two-time Olympic gold medalist returned to the Beijing games and competed in four main events. Kim is also a six-time X Games gold medallist and the only athlete in X Games history to receive three gold medals before the age of 16. Kim has made Olympic history and is the first woman to win two gold medals in the snowboard halfpipe.

Born on April 23, 2000 in Long Beach, California, Chloe Kim started her snowboarding journey at just four years old and started to compete at the age of six. Her father, Jong Jin Kim, quit his job to be able to fully support her dream. He would drive her 6 hours to practice in the mountains where she trained. Kim attended Mammoth High School for her education. She was a student at Princeton University, majoring in anthropology, but decided to leave to focus solely on snowboarding.

Rick Bower is Chloe’s current snowboarding coach. Although snowboarding came naturally, Chloe had to put in the work. Throughout competition seasons, she practices at least two hours everyday on the snow. As the competitions get closer, she practices close to six hours a day. It is clear she has worked very hard to reach her goals. Kim says, “The one thing I learned is to just give everything a shot. You don’t want to live in regret.”