Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim speaks, inspires CU Boulder students
Sep. 12—Two-time Olympic gold medalist snowboarder Chloe Kim — sporting trendy sneakers, a chic black blazer and a humorous demeanor — quickly captured the attention of her audience at the University of Colorado Boulder on Tuesday.
Kim was quick to crack jokes and made the audience laugh by telling stories, like how she thought she lost her first gold medal right after she got it, but her mom simply moved it to a safe place, or how Kim "knew she made it" when she got free pizza from California Pizza Kitchen.
Kim, now 23, is known as one of the world's greatest female snowboarders. She started snowboarding at age 4, competed in her first X Games at age 13 and was the youngest woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding at 17 years old.
CU Boulder sophomore Adamari Ruelas said Kim's talk felt really personal. Ruelas is a big fan of the Olympics and of Kim.
"She's real, she's honest, she's true, and she's struggling the same way we all are," Ruelas said. "I like that."
During her talk, Kim opened up about challenges she's faced, including managing intense pressure to win and navigating racism. She told stories about hearing racist jokes or comments directed at her or her parents while competing, and told a story about crying herself to sleep when she was 13 because of hate she received online when she won her first X Games.
As she got older, Kim said, the pressure to win mounted and she struggled with her mental health. She said she felt like she had to win because it's what people expected, and if she didn't, it was a failure and reflection of herself and her worth.
"I always thought I wasn't allowed to have bad days," Kim said.
Kim said a major turning point was when she went to the Olympics when she was 17 years old in South Korea. She said it was the first time in her life she was proud of her heritage.
"I think for the first time I was proud of who I was and it was life changing for me in so many ways," Kim said, later adding, "That's what I want so many young Asian Americans to feel because I feel like we're put in a box."
Kim is a co-founder of TOGETHXR, a digital platform meant to create a community and uplift the next generation of women in sports. Kim said she hopes to get her message out and help inspire young female athletes.
Senior Veena Bhatnagar, chair of the Distinguished Speakers Board that brought Kim to CU Boulder, said it was "incredible" to have Kim speak.
"For her being such a young woman and accomplishing so much at such a young age with winning gold medals, and also the fact that she's Asian American being Asian myself, really means a lot to see someone up there achieving things that stereotypically you haven't seen in the past," Bhatnagar said.
Bhatnagar said she appreciates Kim's non traditional pathway to success in life, showing that there's not one set way to accomplish goals.
"You don't have to do what everyone else says, you can break barriers as easily as you want," Bhatnagar said. "You can be as young as you want and win a gold medal, just break whatever barriers you want to."
Now, Kim said, she's in a much better place after going to therapy and enjoying all that life has to offer, including new hobbies and connecting with family and friends. She said she's ready to get back into snowboarding soon and hopes to eventually return to the Olympics. She said she's learned that failure to win a contest does not take away from her self-worth.
"I feel like you can take that to not only snowboarding but to so many other things," Ruelas said. "Even if you're a professional or meant to be good at something, you can still fall and that doesn't mean you're not worth it."
