According to the New York Times, the U.S. team won its second gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics.
Chloe Kim, who won the women's U-track final in snowboarding at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang about four years ago, successfully defended her title.
Screenshot of related reports
This is also a man with a story. Here I would like to share with you a few things mentioned in the New York Times report.
According to reports, Chloe was only 17 years old when she won gold at the last PyeongChang Winter Olympics, but soon, she thought of retiring!
Why? Success is like a tightening trap. She was suffocated under the pressure of being watched in an instant! This is the privilege and curse of Olympic success.
One of her main memories of winning the title today is to flee to the bathroom just to be alone and see the medals she's won. She wondered: Why does it feel like her big moment belongs to someone else?
Chloe
Then, there was a message she received on Instagram after the Olympics from a top snowboarder.
Originally, the message was sent to someone else, but it was displayed on her phone.
Speakers called her "Cocky ass bitch."
This stung her deeply, the article said. That 'barb' was still hooked inside her.
She later said: "At 17, 18, I was even more immature myself – like messing it all up, I'm done. I'm going to take a break and come back to this conversation later. ”
She has no idea what people think of her. She said: "When I was 13 years old, I was making a name for myself and I was doing really well in all competitions, like everyone was supporting me. For example, 'Come on, Chloe!' And 'Well done, Chloe, look how awesome you are!' Then after I won, the energy changed completely and I felt embarrassed after winning the game. I knew that if I did well again, people would dump me. ”
Just as she was thinking so, she received the message.
She said: "I just feel like everyone is looking for my stubble. So I thought, well, if I'm going to be the villain in the story, then I don't know if I want to do that. It's just not fun. ”
She broke her right ankle in early 2019, which in retrospect was a blessing to stay away from a sport she wasn't sure she liked or disliked.
She slipped away from the spotlight. 22 months passed and she hadn't snowboarded once. This is an unheard of, voluntary detox for a top athlete who has just reached the peak.
She went to Princeton and tried to become an ordinary college student. She looks for friends with different interests and backgrounds. Whether she succeeds in snowboarding or not, she is surrounded by people and things that can return the favor: dogs, horses, boyfriends, new school friends, family.
That's what happened to the top Olympic athletes: winning a gold medal, disappearing as the real world churned, and then reappearing on the TV screen four years later, as if someone had unfastened the Olympic "pause" button. But she didn't pause. She grew up. She's still funny, smart and stupid. But she was older, smarter, stronger.
Earlier, in an interview, she repeated the insulting words she received on Instagram. She wouldn't say who wrote it.
"It's definitely one of those things I wish I hadn't seen, but I'm grateful," she said, "and if I hadn't seen it, I'd say, 'Oh, cool, we're still fine.'" Knowing (someone saying that about me) helps me. It did make me more vigilant, and I think it's okay. You can't trust anyone. ”
epilogue
The report also mentioned that she attended college in Princeton during the 22 months when she did not ski, and also bought a house. She was a little reluctant to get herself back on the Olympic track.
She is still the best in the world, which is hardly controversial. She hasn't competed much since returning to the track a year ago.
After the age of 17, she has grown up: more cautious, more independent, more wary of the star status that comes with every smile and near-perfect skiing.
What I want to know is: how will the top American skier who scolded her feel when he knows all this?
Plus, I appreciated what she did after receiving that somewhat vicious remark. That's definitely not something every 17-year-old girl can do! What do you say? (End)