17-Year-Old Chloe Kim Emerges as Star of Winter Olympics

And not only for her talent, the teen has an endearing personality as well.

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Gold medalist Chloe Kim #1 of the United States celebrates her gold medal win during the Snowboard - Ladies' Halfpipe competition. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images

On Monday, Chloe Kim won the halfpipe gold medal at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. That makes her the third U.S. Olympian to win gold at the 2018 Games. She nailed her first run, scoring a 93.75. Including qualifying, Kim had five runs, and she scored above 90 on four of them. Nobody else even did it once, according to Sports Illustrated. At 17-years-old, Kim is already so much better than her fellow competitors, but she is also naturally bubbly, witty, and totally endearing. In between runs on the first day of competition, she tweeted about wanting ice cream. Between finals runs, she tweeted about being hangry.

She doesn’t worry about what people think — or she hides it well — during press conferences, and rambled so long that at one point she just said, “I don’t know what I’m saying right now, but I’m just really happy.” She should be. What Kim achieved is a testament to her athleticism, her work ethic, and herself.

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