Chloe Kim is an Olympic snowboarder and one of the most successful athletes in her sport right now. Though she’s just 20 years old, Kim has proven she will be a force to be reckoned with for a long time.
And, along with everything she’s managed to accomplish on the snow, Kim also has an award-winning personality and an impressive social media following. Needless to say, she’s a star.. From how she got into snowboarding to breaking records left and right, here’s everything you need to know about the snowboarder.
Kim’s parents are from South Korea, but they moved to California before she was born. She was raised in Torrance, California, and developed an interest in snowboarding when she was just four years old.
In fact, her father quit his job in order to drive Kim up to the mountains so she’d be able to train. Kim started competing when she was just six years old as a member of Team Mountain High.. Then, when it became clear she had real potential, Kim trained in Geneva, Switzerland from the ages of eight to 10. She then returned to Mammoth, California and joined the U.S. Snowboarding Team in 2013.
Though Kim has been successful since she was a young teenager, she really made a name for herself at the 2018 Olympics.
At just 17 years old, she became the youngest woman to ever win an Olympic snowboarding gold medal after winning the halfpipe. She was also the youngest competitor to win an X Games gold medal, which she did at 14 years old, and she became the first athlete to win four X Games gold medals before she even turned 18. Now that’s impressive.
While her impressive accomplishments during the 2018 Olympics spoke for themselves, it was Kim’s funny social media presence that really made her a fan favorite.
She tweeted about her obsession with ice cream and that she was “hangry” right before the biggest competition of her. Kim currently has over 270,000 Twitter followers and just under 700,000 Instagram followers.
After her incredible performance at the 2018 Olympics, Mattel began producing a Barbie in her likeness! It was a part of a new line of dolls highlighting inspiring women, and Kim’s doll joined the likes of Amelia Earhart, Alex Morgan, Naomi Osaka, and many others.
Kim, along with soccer player Alex Morgan, swimmer Simone Manuel, and basketball player Sue Bird, developed TOGETHXR, a women-focused media company aimed at amplifying female voices. The company, which is aimed at Gen Zers and Millennials, will focus on everything from fashion and wellness to activism and achievements. “We have our individual legacies as athletes through championships and medals, but what’s most important to us is championing for the next generation of women — because that will be the legacy that lasts,” the group said in a statement. “We’re proud to have worked as a team to create TOGETHXR — a brand that elevates women’s voices and celebrates where sport and culture converge,” they added.