hankyoreh

Chloe Kim of the United States competes in the women’s snowboard halfpipe final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, China, on Thursday. (Xinhua/Yonhap News)

She stood at the starting line with a bright smile on her face. Not an ounce of hesitation or tension could be detected in her leap into the air — after all, she did say she snowboards for fun, not to win. Twenty-two-year-old Chloe Kim of the US was back, her skills even better than before.

Kim made history Thursday by winning her second straight Olympic gold by finishing first in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics women’s snowboard halfpipe finals, held in Genting Snow Park, in Zhangjiakou, with a score of 94 points.

In her first run, she nailed a frontside 1080, a cab 900, a switch backside 540, and a cab 1080. After she finished the run with a flawless performance, she kept repeating, “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!” as if she couldn’t believe what just happened herself.

In an interview after the event, Kim said, “I probably landed my run twice [in practice] when I’m used to landing it eight times, normally,” adding, “I was so proud of myself.”

The score for her impeccable first run proved a hurdle none of the other 11 finalists could rise above — and the basis for Kim’s gold win. The second-place winner, Queralt Castellet (33, Spain), scored 90.25 points, 3.75 points lower than Kim.

A snowboarding prodigy, Kim started the sport at age 4 and had won third place in a national competition by the time she was 6. She became the youngest-ever member of the US snowboarding team at age 13. As she was too young to compete in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, she entered the Winter X Games at age 14 and won gold — the youngest to do so at the time.

Chloe Kim is the first athlete to make the podium at every competition she competed in, from two Olympics, two World Championships, two Youth Olympics, six X Games, to 10 World Cups. Additionally, she is the only snowboarder in history to receive a perfect score of 100 other than men’s snowboard legend Shaun White (36, USA) — she achieved the feat when she landed back-to-back 1080 spins in 2016, the first woman to do so.

But even more daunting than landing her signature 1080 spins to Kim was the sudden fame and attention she garnered during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, which turned the snowboarding prodigy into a world celebrity practically overnight.

Barbie launched a Barbie doll in her likeness, and a cereal product with her face printed on its packaging sold out within seven hours of its release. Kim, who matriculated at Princeton University in 2019, has said attending college felt like everyone was watching her and taking pictures of her. She even said she “hated life” when the sudden changes in her life made it difficult for her to simply grab a sandwich at a corner store without being “hassled.” Subsequently, she took a break from snowboarding for a year.

Chloe Kim of the United States celebrates her second successive gold in the women’s halfpipe at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday. (Reuters/Yonhap News)

Kim’s strongest supporters were her parents. Her father, Jong Jin Kim, immigrated to the US from Korea in 1982 with only US$800 in his pocket. After recognizing her talent for snowboarding early on, he quit his job and helped her follow her dreams all across the world.

During an interview with CNN last year, Kim said, “My dad gave up so much.”

“My parents put everything into me and my career, I guess, and it worked out, and I’m so thankful every day,” she continued.

Thanks to her No. 1 fans — her parents — Kim reclaimed the gold medal from Pyeongchang, which she’d thrown in the trash, and prevailed over pressure. She won the International Ski Federation (FIS) Snowboard World Cup in January of last year and announced her return to snowboarding.

Kim, who practically won gold in her first run, attempted 1260 spins during her second and third runs — a first in women’s snowboarding in the Olympics. It was to challenge herself, not for the sake of a medal. Though she failed to land both attempts, she laughed it off. She’s challenged herself many times before — when she paused her dreams to protect herself when mounting pressure made life hateful, and when she plunged into the unknown with a firmer grasp on herself after winning an Olympic medal.

These were Chloe Kim’s real secret weapons, ones her flashy records don’t reveal.

By Park Kang-soo, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]