Chloe Kim Wins First Gold

Tonight 17-year old Chloe Kim became the owner of her first Olympic gold medal. On our show this week, Lauren Hudson shares how young Olympians like Chloe achieve their dreams on the world’s biggest sporting stage.

Let’s do this thing!!

A post shared by Chloe Kim (@chloekimsnow) on Feb 12, 2018 at 1:03pm PST

For four years, Team USA snowboarder, Chloe Kim has been a gold medalist in waiting. Tonight she dominated the snowboard halfpipe to win Olympic gold.

Kim qualified for the Olympics in December after winning two-consecutive qualifying events. She was also the only athlete in “X Games” history to earn three gold medals before the age of 16.

Tonight, despite being younger than most of the field, Kim became the youngest American to win an Olympic medal in snowboarding.

“She looks so relaxed, carries a ton of speed and makes it look pretty easy,” Rick Bower, the U.S. Snowboard head halfpipe coach, describes Kim. (Bleacher Report.)

As reported by NBC, Kim set the bar extremely high on her first run, landing a backside air, frontside 1080, cab 720, frontside 900, McTwist and frontside inverted 720. On her victory lap, Kim stomped both of her 1080s, then landed the rest of her run. The final score from the judges: 98.25. And with that, Kim was officially the new Olympic champion.

She may be the world’s best, but Kim’s had to triumph and overcome her own challenges.

For the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Kim partnered with team USA sponsor, Toyota to share her unique journey to becoming the best in the world.

Kim joins 18 other Team USA athletes on the Team Toyota roster, including Purdy, Celski, Nichols and Yater-Wallace. On the website, each athlete describes how they discovered the potential to achieve their lifelong Olympic dream. The goal of the movement is to reenforce strong values of humility, hard work, overcoming challenges, and never giving up.

The ultimate goal? Getting athletes and non-athletes equipped to unlock human potential through the power of the movement.

“Our Team Toyota athletes are a great representation of strength, perseverance and determination to achieve goals that so many people would deem impossible,” said Ed Laukes, group vice president, Toyota division marketing.

Chloe, a Long Beach native, says her biggest inspiration is, “probably the fact that I get to do what I love and have the opportunity to experience such amazing moments with my family and friends.”

Check out the other athletes on the Team Toyota roster and watch the full segment below airing across the globe on California Life with Heather Dawson!

Visit Team Toyota for more for information on the team’s journey.