The Stunning Transformation Of U.S. Olympian Chloe Kim

Even if you're not a snowboarding fan, you've probably heard of Chloe Kim. How could you not after her history-making run at the 2018 Olympics? The official website for the Games calls her "arguably the greatest female snowboarder of all time," which is especially impressive considering she was born in 2000.

The Korean American athlete won gold at the Olympics in 2018, scoring a whopping 98.25 points on the halfpipe. That win also made her the youngest gold medalist in her event ever, not to mention the first snowboarder to win at the Olympics, Worlds, Youth Olympics, and X Games. Needless to say, Kim is a big deal.

How did she get to the top of the snowboarding game at such a young age? That comes down to a lot of hard work and dedication. Here's a closer look at her stunning, transformative journey from a young child snowboarding with her dad to becoming one of the greatest athletes of all time.

While Chloe Kim showed early promise, her childhood wasn't completely centered on snowboarding. When she was 8, her parents sent her to live with an aunt in Switzerland where she attended third and fourth grade. Per Time for Kids, Kim felt out of place in another country, being the only student of Asian descent at her school and feeling like an outsider.

Of course, she didn't entirely abandon snowboarding during this time. Her dad regularly visited her, where they'd hit the slopes together and continue her training. While the mountainous country is known for its cold-weather sports, her dad made it clear to USA Today that the Kim family's reasons for sending their daughter to Europe had nothing to do with snowboarding. As her dad explained, they weren't even thinking of the possibility that she might go to the Olympics one day. "So the reason Chloe went to Switzerland is not because of snowboard[ing]," he told the outlet. "It's because I want her to learn French."

Kim did learn French and moved back to the States a couple of years later. Soon, snowboarding training became a full-time occupation, and she switched to home schooling to allow for more time to hit the slopes (per USA Today). From there, her career really took off.

Unfortunately, Chloe Kim's incredible success attracted a lot of haters over the years. That may be par for the course for people in the public eye, but Kim's ethnicity meant she was also targeted by racists. An Instagram post celebrating her silver medal at the 2014 X Games led to hateful comments in her inbox, including ones accusing her of "stealing" thunder from her white teammates. "I ended up crying myself to sleep on the best night of my life," she told Time.

Making the situation even more difficult was that none of her teammates could understand what she was going through, as she was the only Asian American on the team. "At that point, you're like, '[Okay], who can I turn to? Who has probably dealt with this before?'" she recalled. "I would constantly look for anyone. But there was no one."

In an interview with ESPN several years later, Kim said that "people belittled my accomplishment because I was Asian," which led her to attempt to distance herself from her heritage. She revealed that she became uncomfortable speaking Korean in public and even pretended she didn't know the language at all when asked about it — in spite of being fluent. "I was so ashamed and embarrassed and hated that I was Asian," she admitted.

Chloe Kim is not just an icon, but a historic figure. That accomplishment was recognized by no less than Mattel when the toy brand released a Barbie doll in honor of her achievements in 2018. The doll was one of 17 that Mattel released that year for International Women's Day recognizing "sheroes" like filmmaker Patty Jenkins and artist Frida Kahlo. "Barbie honors women who have broken boundaries in their fields and have been an inspiration to the next generation of girls with a one-of-a-kind doll made in their likeness," Mattel said in a statement of the commemorative doll (via Time). 

The release of the doll was also significant, as there have been few Barbie dolls representing Asians over the years — and many of those that hit shelves have been problematic, noted The Boston Globe. 

Kim was thrilled with the honor, tweeting, "Ahh! Im so happy to be honored as a @Barbie Shero alongside these incredible women!"

Chloe Kim graduated from La Palma Christian School in 2018, the same year she won Olympic gold. Those are two big accomplishments for one year, so it's no wonder she needed a break from the spotlight and decided to head to college — at an Ivy League school, no less.

Kim told ESPN that the "emptiness" she felt after the Olympics was her breaking point. She needed to make a change, and the decision to go off to school proved to be transformative. She enrolled at Princeton in the fall of 2019. "I wanted to be around different people and hear their stories and what their lives are like," she explained.

Kim got an education in more ways than one, saying that making new friends and learning about their different backgrounds and viewpoints helped her grow as a person. She called going to Princeton "the best thing I could have done," telling ESPN, "It helped me to be more open-minded and empathetic."

While at Princeton, Kim tried her best to blend in with her peers. She told Time that she would frequently turn down requests for photographs, telling fans, "I want to be like everyone else." While this gave her a reputation as a surly figure, things slowly improved as the novelty of having an Olympian on campus wore off.

Chloe Kim stunned the world with another talent in 2020 when she was unveiled as the Jellyfish on the reality singing competition "The Masked Singer," in which celebrities perform disguised by elaborate costumes as a panel of judges tries to guess their identities. While Kim didn't win the competition, she wowed audiences with her singing voice. She explained to Entertainment Weekly that, while she's no stranger to karaoke nights, she has no formal vocal training. She's simply a music lover who enjoys singing and is self-taught on the guitar. "Singing is actually really therapeutic for me when I'm stressed or something," she said.

Kim revealed to the magazine that she had a vocal coach while on the show, which helped her strengthen her vocal chops. "It was honestly the best experience ever," she told the magazine. "I'm so grateful." That being said, it was a different type of competition than she was used to, and Kim admitted that her performances made her even more nervous than competing in the Olympics. "I know some people are gonna find that hard to believe, but I feel like going into the Olympics ... I had a lot of people telling me what to expect," she explained.

Get used to seeing Chloe Kim win Olympic gold. The Olympics website predicts that she "could conceivably compete at several more Winter Olympics," but up first are the upcoming Games in Beijing. Once again, Kim is a favorite to bring home the gold, and she is more than ready to crush the competition.

Kim plans to perform three new tricks at the Olympics, describing them to Time as "an upgrade from everything I've done." The pressure is on, and she's hyperaware of it. "Don't have too many expectations," she told the outlet. "Just let me vibe. I'm just trying to chill." Though Kim said she was "just kidding," she added, "You just expect a lot out of me."

While the pandemic meant she went a couple of years without competing, Kim worked out all of her nerves about returning to competitive snowboarding at the 2021 World Cup. She told Vogue that she "was hyperventilating" at first but worked through the anxiety. Now, she's back to competing and more prepared than ever. "I won that event, somehow—and that really brought my confidence back," she said.

As for college, she might go back one day, but, for now, she's focused on her snowboarding career. Whatever she decides to do, her parents have her back. While her mom, Boran, told Time that she'd like her daughter to return to Princeton, she said her daughter's "happiness comes first." She added, "I support her decisions."