When Did Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Chloe Kim Start Snowboarding?

Published 04/22/2022, 9:00 AM EDT

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via Reuters

Snowboarding queen Chloe Kim is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist. She won her first Gold Medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics as a 17-year-old and became the youngest female snowboarder to stand atop the podium.

Four years later, at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, Chloe Kim did it again. She put up an impressive score on her first run itself, and it was clear that there was no beating her. At 21 years old, Kim also holds the record for Youth Olympics and X Games.

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Over the years, she has proved that she is the upcoming future of snowboarding. So fans are keen to know when exactly did Kim start snowboarding? And what was the reason behind this? Let’s find out.

Kim and her early days of snowboarding

Chloe Kim’s family is originally from South Korea. However, Kim, who was born in California, represents Team USA when she competes.

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Kim took up snowboarding at the very young age of 4. She used to train with her father in the Gabriel mountains. Although he himself was new to the sport, Jong Jin Kim did his very best to train his daughter.

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Her father, who was a mechanical engineer, recognized his young daughter’s passion and talent for the sport. Soon, he took the decision to leave his job and become a full-time coach for Chloe. It helped that he had a fair idea of gravity and its works and he used his knowledge to help Kim.

Chloe Kim was coached by her own father

Kim has herself revealed that sometimes her father would be a bit “off” on his tricks, but then she is forever grateful to him.

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“My dad was a mechanical engineer, and he really knew physics and how gravity works. But sometimes he would be a little…off,” said Kim.

via Reuters

The father and daughter duo even trained during the off-season when there was hardly any snow. She said, “In off-season training, we’d go to a park and he’d strap a snowboard on my feet, and I would go down the slide and learn how to do tricks.”

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Kim started professionally competing when she was 13 years old and the rest is history. In fact, Kim even qualified for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but she was too young to compete. She started her success stint off with X Games and would go on to become a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist.

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Written by:

Richa Goswami

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Richa Goswami is a US Sports writer at EssentiallySports. As an adherent learner, she uses her journalistic persona to navigate through new skills. Richa has completed her schooling at Don Bosco.
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Edited by:

Reubyn Coutinho