On February 12, 17 year old Chloe Kim caught the attention of the American public after winning gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics for snowboarding. But, It all started when at the tender age of 4, Chloe Kim’s father, in her words, “dragged her to the mountain.” Then at age 8, after winning a few competitions with some minor training, her father quit his job to focus on her snowboarding career completely.
When it comes to excellence in sports, usually it’s the father who is more of a driving force, than the mother. Such as the father of Korean Se Ri Pak, as well as American fathers for Tiger Woods and the William sisters. Chloe’s dad’s name is Kim Jong Jin.
This is Chloe Kim’s first Olympics, but she has won 6 medals so far in the popular American X Games, 4 of which were gold. And, then at age 15 she became the first female to complete a back-to-back 1080 degree jump – 3 full 360 degrees revolutions. She then did it again on her final run on February 12 in Pyeongchang, becoming the first female to successfully execute the feat at an Olympic event.
When not training, Chloe Kim goes to high school in California. She speaks fluently French, English and Korean. In her spare time she plays the acoustic guitar.
Chloe is Korean-American, and still has family in Korea. On hand to witness Chloe’s feat at the Olympics was her 75 year old grandmother. After winning Chloe said she “can’t wait to take her shopping.”
Cover image: Lillehammer 2016 Youth Olympics/Creative Commons
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