South Bay Teen Chloe Kim Takes Home Olympic Gold Medal

REDONDO BEACH, CA – Chloe Kim, 17-year-old snowboarder from Torrance, won the Olympic gold medal in the halfpipe category Monday; she's the youngest medalist ever in the halfpipe. Kim received a score of 93.75 in her first run from the six-panel judge. The high and low scores are not included in the average. Standings are determined by the competitor's best run.

No other competitor topped 90 throughout the competition at Phoenix Snow Park in Bongpyeong-myeon, South Korea. Kim was assured of the gold medal when the next-to-last competitor, Liu Jiayu of China, failed to top Kim's score from the first run.

On her third and final run, Kim received a near-perfect score of 98.25 out of a possible 100.

"I knew I wouldn't be satisfied taking the gold and knowing that I hadn't put down my best," Kim said. "That third run was for me – to put down the best run I could do."

Liu won the silver medal with a score of 89.75 on her second run. Arielle Gold of Steamboat Springs, Colorado won the bronze medal with a score of 85.75 on her final run, knocking Kelly Clark of Mammoth Lakes into fourth. Clark is a five-time Olympian and the gold medalist in the event in 2002.

"Standing on the podium was insane – just realizing how far I've come as a person and an athlete," Kim said.

For the second consecutive day, Kim tweeted about food.

"Wish I finished my breakfast sandwich but my stubborn self decided not to and now I'm getting hangry," Kim tweeted, using an adjective meaning bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.

During qualifying Sunday (California time) Kim tweeted, "Could be down for some ice cream rn," meaning right now.

Kim is a senior at La Palma Christian School in Orange County. She began snowboarding when she was 4 years old and competing for Team Mountain High at age 6. She spent third and fourth grades studying in Geneva and trained in Valais, Switzerland from when she was 8 to 10 years old.

She had qualified for the 2014 Olympics, but was too young to compete. She has won three X Games gold medals, along with a silver and a bronze.

"It's so rare that people can live up to the hype. Chloe Kim absolutely did that today," said NBC analyst Todd Richards, a snowboarder in the 1998 Olympics. "It wasn't any shock to me – we've seen it all season long. Chloe Kim is the future and it is here, inspiring women all over the world."

City News Service contributed to this post; Photo by Dean Blotto Gray