Winter Olympics: Chloe Kim says half-pipe gold ‘still hasn’t hit me’ as China’s Eileen Gu lauds ‘my friend, inspiration and big sister’
- US snowboarder ‘so proud to bring home another gold’ after becoming first woman to secure back-to-back Olympic titles in the event
- The 21-year-old Kim cries tear of joy at bottom of slope after amazing first run, having endured ‘the worst practice of my life’
More than 12 hours on from Thursday’s historic Olympic half-pipe gold at the Beijing 2020 Winter Games, American snowboarder Chloe Kim admitted “it still hasn’t hit me”.
The 21-year-old became the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the event, after an amazing first run which earned her a score of 94.00, and sent her straight to the top of the podium with nobody topping it.
She had fallen to her knees and cried tears of joy at the bottom of the slope after that run, turning to the camera and admitting “I had the worst practice of my life”. The tears then came back when she saw her score.
“Today was insane! Thank you thank you thank you all for the love,” Kim wrote in an Instagram post just before midnight in Beijing. “It still hasn’t hit me yet but so so proud to bring home another gold!!”
China’s US-born golden girl Eileen Gu later took to social media to congratulate her friend, having watched her from the sidelines at Genting Snow Park on Thursday morning.
The 18-year-old Gu had been cheering on China’s Cai Xuetong, who missed out on a medal, as well as her friends on Team USA.