17-Year-Old Snowboarder Makes Olympic History

Chloe Kim
Chloe Kim (photo: Facebook/ Screenshot)
By Faith MagbanuaFebruary 15th, 2018

Named by her father as his "American Dream", 17-year-old snowboarder Chloe Kim has become a favorite not just because of her infamous "hangry" tweets, the merging of angry and hungry, but mostly because of her undeniable charms and of course her pure talent.

The Winter Olympics gold medalist had already done enough to win the women's halfpipe gold before she even started her final attempt, only to knock it out of the park with a near-perfect score of 98.25 doing back to back 1080s in the halfpipe making jaws drop at her tremendous moment.

According to a documentary made solely to Kim, when they first saw her, she was just "crusin" in the halfpipe.

And it seems to be real, as the feel of Kim's performance had gained the judges' approval thus winning her a gold medal.

However, while some netizen's are giving Chloe a massive amount of comments for playing for team America while her surname says that she's Korean.

On the other hand, Chloe Kim is an even bigger star in Pyeongchang thanks to her Korean heritage. Chloe comes from a South Korean family who immigrated to the United States. Her father, Jong Jin Kim, is his daughter's biggest fan, and quit his job to pour all his energy into his daughter. Her father can be seen at the Olympics, holding a large banner that says "Go Chloe" with an addition of a heart.

After winning the gold, an emotional Kim soaked up the adulation of her fans and quickly rushed to embrace her family who were watching on the slopes.

When she was finally crowned Olympic champion, her father was heard shouting "American dream!" while pointing at himself with a beaming smile on his face.

He later said: "When I came to the United States, this was my American hope. Now, this is my American dream."

HALFPIPE GOLD

She performed three spins on the left side, becoming the first female to land consecutive 1080s in the halfpipe at the Olympics.

Members of Kim's family whooped and hollered. Overcome with emotion, Kim's sister could not speak. American flags were raised towards the azure sky. It was spellbinding.

Her final score of 98.25 was eight-and-a-half points clear of Chinese silver medalist Liu Jiayu.

 

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