An Olympian explains: How to master snowboarding with Kelly Clark

The legendary snowboarder became the first woman to land a 1080 during competition. During her career she won two prestigious ESPY awards. Back in her hometown in Vermont in the northeastern United States, Clark is a true hero: when she won gold at her home Winter Olympic Games at Salt Lake 2002, they painted their snowplow gold. Upon her retirement in 2019, she created the Kelly Clark foundation, which gives scholarships to young snowboarders, and also published her autobiography 'Inspired'.

Clark talked to Olympics.com about the beauty of snowboarding, her career milestones and her thoughts on the snowboarding at Beijing 2022, which starts 4 February.

Below is a transcript of that interview, lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

How did you discover snowboarding and what made you fall in love with it to the point of deciding to become a professional athlete?

I started snowboarding before it was cool. There was no such thing as the X Games, and it was long before it was an Olympic sport. I grew up in a small mountain town in Vermont, and being on the mountain was just what you did as a kid. When I saw snowboarding, I quickly was attracted to it. I skipped enough ski racing practices to the point where my dad stopped paying for skiing and I could get more days snowboarding on the hill. It was so exciting because there was room for creativity and individual expression. It's a unique sport that has a culture behind it, so I think that was also part of what drew me to it.

Do you still snowboard after retiring from professional competition?

I snowboard all the time. I'm like a little kid. I still love it, probably just as much as day one, even though it's been over 30 years now. I still ride a lot, just a lot more powder these days. I spend most of my days in Mammoth (California), so if you want to find me on the hill, this would be the mountain to check.

If you had to explain snowboarding in a few words, what would you say?

It is standing sideways and going down the mountain, similar to skateboarding and surfing. It’s about having as much fun as possible.

Snowboarding in one minute:

· The basics: Snowboarding involves descending a snowy slope on a snowboard. There are 11 snowboarding events at Beijing 2022, including mixed team snowboard cross, which will be making its Winter Olympic debut after featuring at the Winter Youth Olympic Games.

· Olympic History: Men’s and women’s snowboarding made their Olympic debuts at the Nagano Games in 1998 with giant slalom and halfpipe competitions. The discipline proved an instant success and returned to Salt Lake City four years later.

· Olympic medals by nation: USA has been a top nation in the sport ever since snowboarding appeared in the Olympic programme. In total, American athletes have won 31 medals with 14 of those gold. In an overall medal table, the US is followed by Switzerland and France.

· Olympic medal leaders: Three Americans are in the top spots: Shaun White, who is setting his eyes on his fourth Olympic gold in Beijing, Jamie Anderson (two Olympic golds and one silver), and Kelly Clark with her one gold and two bronze medals.

What do you love most about snowboarding and what is the most challenging part of it? What are the best qualities needed to succeed in snowboarding?

It's probably one and the same. I think the best thing about snowboarding is the finish line is always moving. The sport's changing and progressing, and it doesn't matter what you've accomplished or how good you are at it, there are still things to learn.

Snowboarding is a technique-based sport. In other sports the strongest, most physically fit athlete will win. It’s not a sheer power sport, although power and strength are both important. The best athlete doesn't win every day because of the technique part, so it's a real combination of attention to detail and in technique, combined with strength, which gives you durability.

What does it mean to you to have competed at the Olympics?

Having been to five Olympics, I can look back at my career and see all the benchmarks: how much I had grown as a snowboarder and as a person.

If you were to choose three top moments in your career, what would they be?

A very special experience to me was my first Olympics, the Games in Salt Lake City, just five months after 9/11. Sports has a really unique way of bringing people together. I happened to win the first gold medal for the US on US soil. And at the medals’ plaza that night, watching the American flag go up and hearing the national anthem, there was not a dry eye in the house, let alone probably the country. For me as a snowboarder, someone who does an individual sport, feeling that camaraderie and being a part of Team USA is an experience I will never forget.

In 2011, I was the first woman to land a 1080 at the X Games and that was a huge step forward for women in in snowboarding. You feel like you're building something and you are part of something that's bigger than you.

My Sochi bronze medal was probably one of the highlights of my career. It came 12 years after I was Olympic champion. It is my last Olympic medal and one of my favorites because it took 12 years of blood, sweat and tears. Even though it's a bronze medal, and in theory, I should maybe like my gold medal better, I know how hard it was and what I overcame that day.

How can you explain the historic success of Team USA in snowboarding?

As athletes, you don't accomplish anything on your own. It takes a team of people. The US snowboard team does support the coaching, the medical staff... All the people supporting the athlete is a huge component to what helps us be successful.

In the US, we are encouraged to dream. Without sounding too cheesy, the American dream is a freedom to say, “I want to go and do that, and I believe that I can”. I also think it’s the legacy that has achieved so much before us.

What can we expect from Beijing 2022 in snowboarding?

With the current level of riding, I don't think simply one big trick is going to make it happen. I think it's going to have to be the whole package: amplitude and technical tricks. I look forward to watching snowboarding this year, I think it's going to be ultra competitive.

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