High school snowboarder Choi Ga-on won South Korea’s first Olympic gold medal in snowboarding, drawing surprised reactions online. She did it after apparent injury in the women’s halfpipe final.
Choi scored 90.25 points on her third run in the women’s halfpipe final at Livigno Snow Park in Italy on Feb. 13 (Korea time) to take gold. She finished ahead of Chloe Kim, who scored 88.00 and was seeking a third straight Olympic title.
Choi crashed hard after her second jump on the first run when she caught an edge on the lip, then made a mistake on the first jump of her second run. She returned for the third run and delivered a clean performance to secure the title. Afterward, she was seen limping.
“My first Olympic medal being a gold medal makes me very happy,” Choi said. “I can’t believe it. It’s also an honor to be the first gold medal for the Korean team.”
Online commenters called it “a movie-worthy story,” with some saying it was too dramatic to be believable and others quoting a popular phrase: “What matters is an unbreakable heart.”
South Korea’s snowboard team has won three medals at the Games so far: Kim Sang-gyeom’s silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom, Yoo Seung-eun’s bronze in women’s big air and Choi’s gold in women’s halfpipe.
* This article has been translated by AI.
Copyright ⓒ Aju Press All rights reserved.